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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  i8g4. 
Accessions  No.  ;^^2.S^^  .      Class  No. 


SIGNS  OF   THE    TIMES; 

OB, 

Im^ttt,  last,  nttJj  inkxt 


BY 


THE  KEY.  JOHlSr  CUMMmG,  D.D.  F.R.S.E., 

ADTHOE  OP  LECTUEE8  Oli  THE  APOCALYPSE,  lURACUS,  DANIH,  PAEABLES,  ETC. 


"And  there  shall  be  signs  in  the  sun,  and  in  the  moon, 
and  in  the  stars,  and  upon  the  earth  distress  of  nations 
With  perplexity." 


'^  Of  THB 


UHIVSRSITYl 


PHILADELPHfi 
LIN'DSAY  AND  BLAKISTOK. 

1855.      - 


^\' 


A 


n 


r)i€l. 


PREFACE. 


The  first  half  of  this  little  work  was  the  expan- 
sion of  two  Lectures  originally  delivered  before 
young  men  in  Exeter  Hall  and  in  Freemasons' 
Hall.  The  writer  had  no  idea  of  the  enlarged  work 
receiving  any  extensive  circulation;  but,  to  his 
great  surprise,  it  has  reached  a  sale  of  nearly  twelve 
thousand,  and  is  still  very  much  in  demand.  He 
has  thought  it  would  prove  useful,  and  at  least 
interesting  to  many,  if  he  added  several  Lectures 
on  Scripture  references  to  the  future,  bearing  more 
or  less  directly  on  the  same  interesting  topic.  He 
does  not  expect  that  every  Christian  will  agree  with 
him  in  every  detail,  or  indeed  see  the  importance, 
and,  as  he  humbly  thinks,  the  duty  of  studying 
prophecy,  as  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place,  to 
which  we  do  well  to  take  heed.  But  he  has  a  right 
to  expect  that  spiritual  minds,  agreeing  with  him 
in  the  great  truths  of  our  common  Christianity, 
and  desirous  of  seeing  men's  souls  solemnized  by 
a  deep  sense  of  the  crisis  in  which  we  live,  and 

(iii) 


IV  PREFACE. 

awakened  to  an  appreciation  of  its  responsibilities, 
should  lay  aside  all  "  bitterness  and  wrath  and  evil 
speaking;"  and  while  in  print  or  otherwise  point- 
ing out  defects,  that  they  should  do  so  in  that  meek 
spirit  which  disarms  infidel  opposition,  and  gives 
lustre  and  emphasis  to  Christian  character.  "What 
the  Holy  Spirit  has  inspired  in  his  word,  it  cannot 
be  unbecoming  in  us  to  study  and  labour  to  eluci- 
date. The  Author  does  not  think  he  has  dogma- 
tized or  dictated  in  a  self-sufficient  spirit — at  least, 
he  never  meant  to  do  so.  On  vital  evangelical 
truths  he  trusts  he  gives  no  uncertain  sound ;  on 
unfulfilled  prophecy  he  has  tried,  successfully  he 
hopes,  to  speak  and  write  as  becomes  one  who  is 
not  a  prophet,  but  a  student  of  all  prophecy  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  therefore  part  of  the  rule 
of  faith,  and  worthy  of  our  prayerful  study. 


CONTENTS 


PAOB 

I. — Thb  Signs  of  thb  Times  ^ 13 

II. — Ths  Moslem,  and  his  End 75 

III. — The  Chbistian,  and  his  Hope 114 

IV. — The  Jew,  his  Buin  and  Kestobation 139 

V.—NoAH,  HIS  Age  and  ours 157 

VI.— Signs,  Celestial  and  Terkesteial 177 

VII.— The  Desieb  op  all  Nations 197 

VIII.— The  Final  Destiny 220 

IX.— It  is  Done 243 

X.— Thb  Lobd  Reigneth 262 


w 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES, 


THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

On  all  sides  it  seems  to  be  felt  that  ours  is  no 
ordinary  age.  It  is  universally  owned  that  we  live 
in  times  of  infinite  importance.  Scene  succeeds 
scene,  change  follows  on  change,  and  event  thun- 
ders on  event,  with  startling  and  portentous  rapid- 
ity. Have  these  things  a  meaning  ?  Is  the  age 
suggestive  or  significant  ?  Are  its  facts  and  phe 
nomena  mere  dumb  and  dead  incidents,  that  rise 
like  air-bubbles  on  the  waves  of  time,  and  are  re- 
solved into  the  great  element  again  without  a  mis- 
sion or  a  meaning  ?  Or,  are  they  full  of  eloquent 
significance — pregnant  lessons — successive  acts  in 
the  great  drama  of  time,  fixing  the  epochs  of  the 
world  ?  In  short,  are  they  "  Signs  of  the  Times  ?" 
There  is  no  doubt  that  they  are.  The  daily  jour- 
nals are  witnesses  on  every  side.  Analogy  dictates 
the  inference  that  our  age  is  significant ;  Scripture 
settles  it.  Ancient  prophecies  are  every  day  trans- 
2  ^  (1-^) 


14  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

lated  into'  modern  facts.  The  year  1854  reflects 
on  every  page  the  scenes  sketched  and  foresha- 
dowed upwards  of  2000  years  ago.  God  has  inva- 
riably given  signs  and  warnings  in  His  word  of 
every  great  and  startling  epoch  of  his  past  provi- 
dential government ;  nay  more,  he  has  given  pre- 
cise dates,  and  definite  numbers,  and  exact  cycles. 
]^ow,  what  God  has  done  premonitory  of  great 
events  that  have  passed  from  prophecy  into  his- 
tory, surely  he  has  not  wholly  withheld  in  refer- 
ence to  those  yet  more  stupendous  ones  that  are 
predicted  soon  to  come  to  pass.  In  the  case  of 
Noah,  120  years  were  definitely  fixed  as  the  period 
at  the  end  of  which  the  windows  of  heaven  should 
pour  down,  and  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
should  be  broken  up.  This  prophecy  was  the 
exact  measure  of  the  time.  The  duration  of  the 
captivity  in  Egypt  was  foretold  to  Abraham  430 
years  before,  and  published  by  Moses ;  and  so  ex- 
actly was  the  prophetic  epoch  fulfilled,  that,  in  the 
language  of  the  sacred  historian,  "  At  the  end  of 
430  years,  the  selfsame  day,  it  came  to  pass  that 
all  the  hosts  of  the  Lord  went  out  from  the  land 
of  Egypt."  Jeremiah  is  told  that  70  years  shall 
be  the  duration  of  the  captivity  in  Babylon ;  and 
in  Daniel  we  read  that  40  years  afterwards  he 
ascertained  from  this  passage  the  date  of  the  exodus 
of  the  Jews  from  Babylon.  The  first  advent  of 
our  blessed  Lord  was  the  subject  of  almost  specific 
chronology.  Long  before  it  occurred  Daniel  said, 
"  After  threescore  and  two  weeks  shall  Messiah  be 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  15 

cut  off,  but  not  for  himself;"  and  his  prophecy  of 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  and  the  specific  period 
at  which  he  should  come,  made  so  deep  an  impres- 
sion upon  the  wide  world,  that  not  only  the  Bap- 
tist, Anna,  and  Simeon,  believers  in  the  word  of 
God,  and  prayerful  and  patient  expectants  of  its . 
fulfilment,  but,  according  to  Tacitus  and  Yirgil,  the 
very  heathen  of  that  day,  to  a  very  wide  extent, 
looked  for  an  illustrious  and  sovereign  personage 
then  to  appear  on  the  earth.  We  may  surely, 
therefore,  expect,  that  the  crowning  act  at  the  end 
of  this  dispensation,  so  frequently  referred  to,  will 
not  be  left  without  premonitory  signs  and  w^arning 
dates,  unequivocal  and  emphatic.  If  signs  and 
dates  preceded  the  cross,  surely  signs  and  dates, 
scarcely  less  startling  and  splendid,  may  be  expected 
to  be  given  as  preceding  the  glory.  Jesus,  indeed, 
says,  "  Of  that  day  knoweth  no  man."  I  believe 
this  refers  especially  to  the  generation  and  the  time 
when  that  statement  was  made,  and  w^as  then,  the 
exact  and  literal  fact.  But,  however  ignorant  that 
generation  might  be  of  precise  and  minute  dates, 
he  gives  in  that  very  chapter  signs  by  which  we 
may  know  when  the  things  predicted  are  just  at 
hand.  The  day  and  hour, —  that  is,  the  very 
instant,  —  none  of  us  are  likely  to  know;  the 
significant  and  deepening  foretokens  of  its  approach 
Jesus  has  commanded  us  to  learn,  and  pronounced 
their  ignorance  criminal  who  do  not  study,  and 
thus  ascertain,  the  times.  The  budding  of  the  fig- 
tree  is  given  by  Jesus  as  one  sign.     The  Jewish 


16  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

race,  set  fortli  by  the  fig-tree,  blasted  at  his  first 
advent,  shall  begin  to  burst  into  blossom,  and 
verdure,  and  beauty,  as  a  premonitory  signal  of 
the  near  approach  of  his  second.  "  Wilt  thou  at 
this  time  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel?"  was  one 
of  the  earliest  questions  asked;  and  the  answer 
then  given  just  before  the  day  of  Pentecost  was, 
"It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the  times  and  the 
seasons,  which  the  Father  hath  put  into  his  own 
power."  Evidently  present  duties,  responsibilities, 
and  privileges  were  to  be  their  first  and  chief  con- 
cern. But  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  it 
is  obvious,  that  since  the  day  of  Pentecost  greater 
light  must  have  been  shed  upon  the  epochs  of  pro- 
phetic chronology ;  for  it  is  said,  "  Of  the  times 
and  the  seasons  ye  have  no  need  that  I  write  unto 
jou,  for  yourselves  know  perfectly  that  the  day  of 
the  Lord  so  cometh  as  a  thief  in  the  night."  Thus 
the  ignorance  of  yesterday  is  inexcusable  to-day. 
The  Lord  rebuked  the  Jews  of  his  day  for  estimat- 
ing the  character  of  to-morrow  from  the  physical 
phenomena  of  to-day ;  whilst  from  the  moral  and 
significant  signs  that  were  showered  down  in  all 
directions  upon  them,  they  refused  to  form  any 
just  induction  of  the  nature  and  nearness  of  the 
approaching  future. 

Let  us  glance  briefly  at  some  of  the  prominent 
and  well-known  dates,  by  way  of  introduction,  as 
an  approximate  evidence  of  our  place  in  the  world. 
There  is  one  great  date  in  prophecy,  repeated  in 
different  formulas,  but  in   all    substantially  the 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  17 

same.  "We  read  of  "  time,  times,  and  half  a  time;'* 
or,  360  years,  twice  360  years,  and  half  of  360 
years — making,  when  added  up,  1260  years.  We 
find  the  same  date  in  another  formula ;  as  forty- 
two  months,  equal  to  1260  prophetic  days,  or  1260 
literal  years.  We  find  it  again  called  1260  days — 
L  e,  prophetic  days — or  equal  to  1260  literal  years. 
These  prophetic  days  represent  each  of  them  a 
year ;  just  as  in  a  plan  or  a  map  an  inch,  or  quarter 
of  an  inch,  is  made  to  represent  a  mile.  We  have 
distinct  authority  for  this.  In  Numbers  xiv.  34, — 
"After  the  number  of  the  days  in  which  ye 
searched  the  land,  even  forty  days,  each  day  for  a 
year,  shall  ye  bear  your  iniquities,  even  forty 
years."  In  Ezekiel  iv.  6, — "  Thou  shalt  bear  the 
iniquity  of  the  house  of  Judah  forty  days ;  I  have 
appointed  thee  each  day  for  a  year."  Thus  pro- 
phecy contains  its  own  plan  —  the  measure  of  its 
own  scale. 

Now,  this  period  of  1260  years,  thus  alluded  to 
in  Scripture,  is  employed  in  every  instance  to 
denote  the  duration  of  a  great  apostasy  that  should 
overcast  all  the  horizon  of  the  West,  and  last 
throughout  a  period  called  in  one  place  1260  years; 
in  another,  forty-two  months ;  in  another,  "  time, 
times,  and  half  a  time."  You  will  see  that  this  is 
referred  to  in  the  following  passages: — In  Daniel 
vii.  25:  "He  shall  speak  great  swelHng  words 
against  the  Most  High,  and  shall  wear  out  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High,  and  think  to  change 
times  and  laws:  and  they"  [that  is,  the  saints  of 


18  SIGNS    OP   THE   TIMES. 

the  Most  High]  "  shall  be  given  into  his  hand  until 
a  time  and  times  and  the  dividing  of  time," — or 
1260  years.  Again,  in  Rev.  xi.  3 :  "I  will  give 
power  unto  my  two  witnesses,"  [true  Christians,] 
"  and  they  shall  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hundred 
and  threescore  days,  clothed  in  sackcloth" — that  is, 
depressed  —  i.  e.  1260  years.  The  "witnesses  in 
sackcloth"  of  St.  John's  Apocalypse,  are  the  "saints 
worn  out,"  or  persecuted  by  the  same  apostasy,  re- 
ferred to  in  Daniel,  which  is  said  to  last  1260  years. 
I  do  not  pause  to  identify  this  persecuting  power 
with  the  Romish  apostasy.  This  is  almost  uni- 
versally accepted.  The  brands  predicted  in  the 
prophecy  are  so  fully  developed  by  the  Papacy,  that 
dispute  is  barely  possible.  Indeed,  the  trouble  to 
which  mediaeval  monks  and  modern  tractarians  are 
put  in  getting  rid  of  the  almost  universal  interpre- 
tation is  something  wonderful. 

Having  seen  the  duration  of  this  apostasy,  let 
us  try  to  take  a  step  farther, — When  did  it  begin  ? 
It  is  of  no  use  to  know  the  end  of  its  life,  unless 
we  can  ascertain  the  date  of  its  birth.  "We  find 
that  the  Emperor  Justinian  gave  the  Pope,  in  the 
year  532,"  not  only  spiritual  jurisdiction,  but  civil 
powder ;  in  other  words,  constituted  the  great  papal 
organization  a  politico-ecclesiastical  power,  and 
armed  it  with  authority  to  enforce  by  the  sword  its 
rescripts,  its  laws,  and  its  pretended  obligations.  I 
therefore  date  the  commencement  of  the  papal 
power,  as  fully  organized,  from  the  year  532  ;  and 
if  so,  1260  years  added  to  that  would  bring  us 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  19 

down  to  1792,  wlien  history  steps  in  to  attest  pro- 
phecy, and  successive  judgments  begin  to  fall  upon 
the  Western  Apostasy.  Great  convulsions  then 
took  place  in  every  portion  of  Antichrist's  domin- 
ions ;  all  forces — infidel,  political,  and  Christian — 
played  against  it ;  God's  people  began  to  emerge 
from  the  midst  of  it ;  and  that  part  of  the  pro- 
phecy which  still  continues,  came  into  its  initial 
active  operation, — "  He  shall  consume  it  w^ith  the 
spirit  of  his  mouth," — while  it  is  waiting  to  be 
utterly  "  destroyed  by  the  brightness  of  his  coming." 
From  that  era  to  this,  the  papal  nations  of  Europe 
have  been  scourged,  and  Romanism  wasted  down 
to  a  shell,  till  it  is  rather  a  galvanized  than  a  living 
thing.  In  France,  it  is  a  mere  political  tool ;  its 
hold  on  the  great  mass  of  the  people  is  gone.  In 
Italy,  the  higher  priesthood  is  infidel.  In  Ireland, 
it  is  in  its  death-struggle.  In  England,  its  boasts, 
its  glare  and  pretension,  are  signs  of  its  exhaustion, 
not  vitality.  Just  as  the  first  wasting  influences 
fell  on  the  apostasy,  the  angel  of  the  everlasting 
Gospel  —  that  is,  its  various  Missionary  and  Bible 
Societies,  or,  "the  witnesses" — emerged  from  bond- 
age, and  were  fully  organized,  with  two  previous 
exceptions,  betw^een  1793  and  1806. 

I  pass,  in  the  next  place,  to  another  chronologi- 
cal date.  The  prophet  Daniel  specifies — and  this 
relates  to  a  subject  which  is  now  occupying  men's 
attention  in  relation  to  the  East — 2300  years  as  the 
duration  of  the  Mahometan  power.  The  beginning 
of  the  2300  years  is  dated  by  the  most  accomplished 


20  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

and  learned  scholars  in  prophecy  at  about  the  year 
430  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  or  the  era  of  the 
noon-tide  glory  of  the  Persian  empire,  and  the 
splendid  progress  of  Xerxes,  the  era  of  its  culmi- 
nating and  meridian  grandeur.  From  that  date 
Daniel  looks  along  the  centuries  to  the  epoch  of 
its  initial  decay,  and  predicts  that  2300  years  from 
that  date  its  decadence  would  begin.  This  lands 
us  in  the  year  a.d.  1820,  when  what  is  called  in  the 
Apocalypse  the  drying  up  of  the  river  Euphrates, 
or  the  decaying  or  wasting  away  of  the  Mahometan 
power,  should  begin  to  take  place.*  ISTow,  if  this 
calculation  be  correct,  we  should  expect  that  in  the 
year  1820,  or  thereabout,  the  Mahometan  power 
did  begin  to  waste  and  wane.  What  are  the  facts  ? 
In  the  year  1820,  the  "Annual  Eegister"  states, 
"  The  Ottoman  empire  had  reached  its  meridian 
strength,  free  from  all  foreign  invasion,  and  in 
possession  of  perfect  peace."  What  takes  place 
soon  after  this  ?  In  the  summer  of  that  very  year 
Ali  Pacha  revolted  against  the  Sultan.  In  the 
autumn  of  1820  the  Greek  insurrection  broke  out. 
Soon  after,  I^orthern  Greece,  the  isles  of  the  Egean 
Sea,  and  the  Danubian  provinces,  all  revolted  from 
the  Turkish  empire.  In  the  Morea,  the  Greeks 
destroyed  an  army  of  30,000  Turks.  In  1827,  the 
combined  fleets  of  Britain,  France,  and  Russia 
destroyed  the  Turco-Egyptian  fleets  at  the  battle  of 

*  I  noticed  that  at  the  May  meetings  in  1854,  noblemen  and 
gentlemen,  not  professedly  students  of  prophecy,  referred  to 
the  Euphrates  as  the  symbol  of  the  Turkish  power. 


SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES.  21 

Kavarino.  In  the  year  1828,  Russia  crossed  the 
Balkan,  entered  Adrianople,  and  Constantinople 
was  saved  by  the  interposition  of  the  Western 
ambassadors.  Servia,  Wallachia,  and  Moldavia 
are  at  this  moment  held  by  the  Russians.  The 
Turkish  province  of  Algiers  is  now  a  French 
colony.  Turkey  suicidally  extinguished  the  Jani- 
zaries, her  best  troops.  During  the  same  period 
earthquakes,  plagues,  and  pestilences  have  almost 
depopulated  Bagdad,  Mecca,  and  Medina.  And 
the  Rev.  Mr.  "Walsh,  the  British  Consul  at  Constan- 
tinople, writing  in  1831,  says,  "Within  the  last 
twenty  years,  Constantinople  lost  more  than  half 
its  population.  Two  conflagrations  happened 
while  I  was  at -Constantinople,  and  destroyed 
15,000  houses.  The  silent  operation  of  the  plague 
is  continually  active.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say, 
that  within  the  period  mentioned,  300,000  have 
been  prematurely  swept  away  in  this  one  city  of 
Europe,  by  causes  not  operating  in  any  other  capi- 
tal whatever."  See  how  exact  is  the  fulfilment  of 
prophecy.  These  points  I  will  state  at  greater 
length  in  my  second  Lecture. 

The  special  prediction  under  the  Sixth  Vial  is 
the  drying  up  of  the  river  Euphrates ;  that  is,  a 
progressive  evaporation  of  Mahometanism,  begin- 
ning in  1820,.  and  expected  by  every  student  of 
prophecy  to  end  in  a  very  short  time  indeed.  It 
is,  you  will  observe,  to  die  out:  it  is  not  to  be 
struck  down.  It  is  the  evaporation  of  a  stream, 
not  the  destruction  of  a  citadel  at  a  blow.    But 


22  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

while  tliis  power  wastes  and  withers,  it  does  not 
follow^  that  the  Russian  Eagle  is  to  have  the 
Mosque  of  St.  Sophia  for  his  ejrie.  The  Turks 
may  not  cease  to  be,  when  they  cease  to  be 
Mahometans.  They  may  become  Christians.  The 
9,000,000  of  Eastern  Christians  that  are  under  the 
Crescent,  and  subject  to  all  its  insults,  its  oppres- 
sion, and  its  tyranny,  may  rise  up  a  glorious  nation 
—  a  mighty  dynasty  —  a  nobler  obstruction  to 
Russian  ambition  than  the  decrepit  and  dying 
Turkish  empire,  which  Western  nations  vainly  try- 
to  keep  up. 

Turkey,  just  at  the  period  predicted  in  prophecy, 
began  to  die  out,  as  we  have  already  seen.  The 
evidence  of  this  is  recent  testimony  respecting  her. 
Lamartine,  in  one  of  those  sagacious  aphorisms  by 
w^hich  his  eloquence  is  distinguished,  says,  "Turkey 
dies  for  want  of  Turks."  This  gradual  decay  of 
the  Turkish  empire  identifies  the  period  in  which 
we  now  are  with  what  is  called  in  the  Apocalypse 
the  Sixth  Vial.  Mr.  Habershon,  in  his  excellent 
work  upon  the  subject,  calculated,  in  1830,  that  the 
Turkish  empire  w^ould  cease  to  exist  soon  after 
1849.  He  was  not  very  far  wrong.  Its  end  is  at 
hand.  Every  day  I  expect  to  hear  of  its  stream 
dried  up,  of  the  Crescent  waning,  and  of  Turkey 
as  a  nation  that  was  —  not  a  nation  mighty,  and 
longer  able  to  maintain  itself.  Plague,  famine, 
'  pestilence,  profligacy,  are  fast  drying  up  her 
empire ;  her  exchequer  is  now  all  but  bankrupt ; 
her  momentary  success  against  Russia  is  no  earn- 


SIGNS   OP  THE   TIMES.  23 

est  of  her  ultimate  security.  Britain  and  France, 
like  clouds,  may  spread  over  the  Euphrates,  and 
try  to  prevent  the  evaporation  of  its  waters ;  but 
all  in  vain.  The  ruthless  Czar  has  his  stern  mis- 
sion, and  we  our  duty  under  all  circumstances. 
The  echoes  of  victory  by  the  fleets  of  the  ambitious 
Autocrat,  and  the  cruel  destruction  of  the  Turkish, 
are  now  resounding  through  Europe.  This  gradual 
decay  of  the  Crescent,  after  the  period  predicted 
under  the  Sixth  Vial,  which  commenced  in  1820, 
when  the  great  river  Euphrates  began  to  be  dried 
up,  is  assuredly  taking  place.  Its  final  destruction 
may  be  looked  for  every  day,  as  it  has  been  since 
1850;  and  now  Russia,  like  a  gigantic  vulture 
poised  in  mid-heaven  on  outstretched  wings,  waits 
for  the  moment  to  descend  and  to  destroy.  Peace 
or  war  equally  exhausts  Turkey.  Help  her  (and  it 
is  duty  to  aid  the  oppressed),  and  you  may  soften 
her  fall,  but  you  will  not  avert  her  decay.  The 
time  for  blotting  out  Mahometan  Turkey  from  the 
map  is  at  our  doors.  The  "  sure  word  of  pro- 
phecy" is  stronger  than  the  combined  fleets  of 
England  and  France,  should  they  try,  what  they 
do  not,  to  prevent  the  waning  of  the  Crescent. 
We  watch  at  this  moment  for  the  issue;  and  I 
confess,  while  I  dread  and  deprecate,  and  justify 
every  effort  to  obstruct  the  cruel  ascendency  of 
the  Russian,  I  long  to  see  the  expiring  throes  of 
an  empire  that  has  long  oppressed  the  free  and 
crushed  the  good;  to  hear  the  last  boom  of 
Mahometan  cannon;   and  to  see  the  wide-spread 


24  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

lands  around  Constantinople,  so  beautiful  and  so 
fertile,  emerge  from  the  deluge  of  Mahometan 
superstition,  and  not  Russia,  but  protestant  Chris- 
tianity ascendant  as  the  result,  and  thereby  the 
way  prepared  for  the  march  of  the  kings  of  the 
East  to  their  beloved  Palestine,  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  their  destiny,  and  their  race. 

Having  seen  that  in  all  probability  we  must  now 
be  near  that  epoch,  let  me  notice,  in  the  next  place, 
that  as  soon  as  the  Crescent  wanes,  and  the  great 
river  Euphrates,  the  recognised  symbol  of  the 
Turkish  power,  evaporates,  we  may  expect  to  see  a 
preparation  for  the  return  of  the  kings  of  the  East ; 
that  is,  an  awakening  take  place  among  the  Jews, 
previous  to  their  emerging  from  the  lands  of  their 
captivity,  and  their  moving  homewards  to  Jerusa- 
lem,—  an  exodus  more  majestic  than  that  from 
Egypt,  —  to  take  possession  of  the  countrj^  that  is 
theirs,  though  kept  from  them  by  the  kings,  and 
rulers,  and  princes  of  the  earth.  Here  every  sign 
is  most  striking.  In  all  directions  the  Jews  are 
awakening  to  a  sense  of  nationality.  They  have 
newspapers  —  I  read  one  of  them  every  week  — 
conducted  with  great  talent  and  power — schools — 
power — influence.  They  begin  to  stand  out  as  they 
never  did  before.  They  were  always  insulated,  but 
it  was  rather  as  broken  and  fragmental  units ;  now 
they  begin  to  be  insulated  in  their  nationality,  or 
as  a  nation,  and  to  consolidate  their  power  and 
make  ready  for  their  mission.  I  may  state,  from 
their  own  newspaper,  that  they  are  organising 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.  25 

plans  for  repossessing  Palestine.  Many  of  them 
have  gone  out  as  farmers  and  agriculturists ;  and 
in  this  Jewish  newspaper  I  read  the  reports  of  the 
agriculturist  Jews  in  Palestine,  addressed  to  their 
brethren  at  home,  just  as  you  might  read  the  ac- 
count of  the  spies  of  old,  when  they  told  the 
children  of  the  desert  of  the  riches  and  the  glories 
of  the  promised  land.  In  America,  funds  are  at 
this  moment  being  raised,  and  near  a  million  dol- 
lars secured,  for  building  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem ; 
the  dry  bones  in  ten  thousand  valleys  give  tokens 
of  returning  life;  the  springs  of  Palestine  have 
suddenly  become  full  of  fresh  and  refreshing  water ; 
every  branch  of  the  fig-tree  buds ;  and  more  Jews 
have  been  converted,  according  to  Tholuck,  during 
the  last  eighteen  years,  than  during  the  previous 
eighteen  hundred;  and  there  are  more  Jews  at 
this  moment  in  Jerusalem  than  there  have  been 
during  the  last  seventeen  centuries.  A  deeper  in- 
terest, too,  is  now  felt  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
the  Jews  than  ever  was  felt  before ;  and  the  various 
societies  for  their  conversion,  not  fifty  years  old, 
have  been  blessed  with  great  and  growing  success, 
and  are  now  the  most  prosperous  of  any.  In  the 
case  of  the  Church  of  England  I  believe  it  is  so, 
and  in  the  Jewish  mission  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land I  know  that  it  is  the  fact. 

And  what  is  one  of  the  great  political  questions 
of  the  day  ?     Whether  the  Jews  shall  be  admitted 
to  legislative  as  well  as  municipal  power.    Whether 
8 


26  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

it  be  a  duty  to  admit  them,  or  the  reverse,  this  is 
not  the  place  to  examine ;  but  their  seeking  and 
our  discussing  it  is  a  sign  of  the  times,  a  proof  of 
their  national  development,  a  symptom  of  their 
disquiet,  a  forelight  of  future  results.  I  know  the 
meaning  of  this.  It  is  the  Jew,  a  weary,  w^ander- 
ing  exile,  seeking  a  rest  for  the  sole  of  his  foot ; 
and  when  he  has  obtained  a  political  place  in  the 
Constitution  of  England,  as  probably  he  will,  he 
will  still  find  that  he  has  no  rest,  and  his  heart  will 
yearn  still,  till  his  feet  shall  tread  the  consecrated 
streets  in  which  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and 
the  world's  grey  fathers,  walked,  and  worshipped 
our  God  and  their  God.  And  it  is  very  singular, 
I  may  observe,  that  the  quarrel  between  Russia 
and  Turkey  took  its  origin  about  things  in  Jerusa- 
lem,— about  shrines  and  altars, — about  the  sacred 
shrines  where  stupid  monks,  that  have  crucified 
afresh  a  living  Christ,  are  fighting  and  quarrelling 
about  the  tomb  of  a  dead  Christ.  The  Jew  feels 
lie  is  not  at  home.  He  seeks  a  seat  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  as  ISToah's  dove  sought  a  rest  before 
the  waters  were  dried  up.  His  rest  is  in  Palestine. 
In  the  "Hebrew  Observer,"  a  newspaper  con- 
ducted by  Jews,  and  very  hostile  to  Christianity,  I 
found,  a  few  weeks  ago,  a  poem  in  which  a  Jew 
apparently  applies  to  Mahometanism  and  to  his 
own  race  the  very  phrases  employed  in  our  Apo- 
calypse, and  forms  the  same  inferences  respecting 
the  speedy  restoration  of  the  Jews  which  I  have 


SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES.  27 

been  endeavouriDg  to  gather,  on  ground  he  refuses 
to  tread.* 

"REDEMPTION  DRAWETII  NIGH. 

"  Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  pilgrim  bands — 

Hark  !  hear  ye  not  the  cry 
Which  sweeps  across  the  desert  sands, — 
His  voice,  who  heaven  and  earth  commands  ? 

Redemption  draweth  nigh  1 

"  Lift  up  your  heads !    The  Crescent  wanes 
In  yonder  Eastern  sky ; 
Beneath  whose  beam  Oppression  reigns, — 
Beneath  whose  beam  Pollution  stains : 
Redemption  draweth  nigh ! 

"  Lift  up  your  heads  I     Euphrates'  stream 
Is  spent, — its  course  is  dry, — 
The  Prophet's  vision  is  no  dream, — 
His  burden  is  no  idle  theme : 
Redemption  draweth  nigh  I 

"  Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  Eastern  Kings  I 

Ask  ye  the  reason  why  ? 

Who  bore  you  erst  on  eagles'  wings. 

You  to  your  land  in  triumph  brings : 

Redemption  draweth  nigh  1 

"  Lift  up  your  heads  !     The  nations  quake. 
Who  raised  their  horn  on  high ; — 
See  how  their  ancient  pillars  shake. 
While  from  a  dream  their  monarchs  wake ! 
Redemption  draweth  nigh ! 

*  I  have  reason  to  believe,  from  subsequent  and  recent  in- 
formation, that  these  lines,  though  accepted  by  the  Jewish 
newspaper,  have  a  Gentile  origin. 


28  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

"  Lift  up  your  heads !     The  Moslem's  fane 

No  more  provokes  a  sigh  ; 
Lo  !  Israel's  Lion  shakes  his  mane 
I  see  Him  stalk  athwart  the  plain  : 

Redemption  draweth  nigh ! 

"  Lift  up  your  heads !  for  Canaan's  soil 
Is  yours.     Ye  shall  not  buy. 
Long  has  it  yielded,  as  a  spoil, 
Its  corn,  its  wine,  its  fruit,  its  oil : 
Redemption  draweth  nigh ! 

"  Lift  up  your  heads  !    Your  temple  dome 

Shall  once  more  kiss  the  sky ! 
Jerusalem  shall  be  your  home. 
From  which  her  sons  no  more  shall  roam : 

Redemption  draweth  nigh ! 

"  Lift  up  your  heads  !     Lift  up  your  voice  ! 
Ye  heralds,  quickly  fly ! 
Bid  Israel's  exiled  tribes  rejoice ; 
Israel,  the  people  of  His  choice ; 
Redemption  draweth  nigh  !  '* 

As  if  to  indicate  the  effects  of  Russian  ascend- 
ency in  the  East,  and  the  probable  way  in  which 
the  Jews  will  be  driven  from  their  homes  and  to- 
ward their  own  land,  we  find  in  the  "Hebrew 
Observer"  the  following  eloquent  article : — 

"  It  seems  to  be  the  fate  of  Jews  and  Judaism, 
voluntarily  or  reluctantly,  to  be  involved  in  every 
great  question  agitating  the  civilized  world.  Whe- 
ther they  boldly  place  themselves  in  the  foreground, 
— brave  danger,  and  plunge  into  the  midst  of  peril ; 
or  hide  themselves  in  the  most  secret  recess,  and 
sedulously  avoid  every  contingency  which  could 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  29 

compromise  their  safety,  it  is  all  the  same ;  they 
cannot  escape  their  fate.  They  are  to  stand  pro- 
minent before  the  world;  the  eyes  and  attention 
of  mankind  are  never  to  be  withdrawn  from  them. 
Thus  has  destiny  willed  it,  and  the  will  of  destiny 
must  be  fulfilled.  A  most  striking  exemplification 
of  this  is  afibrdcd  by  the  Eastern  question. 

"  That  little  spot  on  the  map  of  the  globe,  called 
Palestine,  had,  after  having  changed  masters  as 
often  as  conquering  hordes  devastated  Asia,  at  last 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  The  Osmanlis 
were  at  that  time  at  the  zenith  of  their  power. 
Three  quarters  of  the  globe  trembled  at  the  din  of 
their  arms,  whilst  the  semi-savages  on  the  Scythian 
steppes  had  but  succeeded  in  shaking  off  the  yoke 
of  the  Tartars.  Little  was  it  then  thought  that 
within  a  few  generations  after  the  tables  would  be 
turned,  that  the  despised  power  of  the  Muscovites 
would  presume  to  dictate  laws  to  the  successors  of 
the  superb  Soliman.  Such,  however,  was  the  will 
of  destiny.  And  what  was  the  indirect  cause  of 
the  warlike  preparations  now  taking  place  in  the 
West  of  Europe,  and  the  shedding  of  blood  equally 
staining  the  fertile  plains  on  the  Danube,  and  the 
bleak  mountains  of  the  Black  Sea  ?  Does  the  Czar 
profess  a  war  of  conquest  ?  Is  it  tliat  he  wishes  to 
transfer  the  seat  of  his  government  from  the  un- 
wholesome marshes  on  the  Keva  to  the  salubrious 
tracts  on  the  Golden  Horn  ?  l^o,  not  a  single  vil- 
lage, thus  has  he  solemnly  declared,  will  he  sever 
from  the  dominions  of  the  Porte.  The  indirect 
3* 


80  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

cause  of  war  proceeded  from  the  land  once  inha- 
bited by  Israel, — from  the  land  given  to  him  as  an 
inheritance  for  ever,  and  which  is  now  trodden 
down  by  Gentiles.  The  land  usurped  by  Maho- 
metan, Greek,  and  Papist,  like  ill-gotten  property 
in  general,  becomes  to  its  holder  a  curse  instead 
of  blessing.  Papist  and  Greek  disputed  rights 
which  belonged  to  neither,  therefore  the  anger  of 
Him  who  had  declared,  "  To  thee  and  to  thy  seed 
I  give  this  land  for  ever,"  was  kindled.  The  dis- 
pute first  became  a  source  of  humiliation  to  the 
Papist;  subsequently  one  of  great  vexation,  and 
possibly  of  great  disaster  to  the  Greek :  and  now 
a  spark  has  gone  forth  from  Palestine,  which 
threatens  to  set  the  world  on  fire.  Thus  has  re- 
luctant Judaism  been  dragged  on  the  foreground. 
But  the  Jews  as  a  body,  too,  are  deeply  involved 
in  the  Eastern  question. 

"  The  two  principal  seats  of  Judaism  since  time 
immemorial,  were  on  the  Pyrenean  peninsula  and 
the  plains  of  Sarmatia.  The  suicidal  policy  of 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic  drove  the  majority  of  his 
Jewish  subjects  from  the  West  to  the  East,  where 
that  shelter  was  afforded  them  by  the  Crescent, 
which  the  Cross  denied  them.  The  Turkish  domi- 
nions became  an  asylum  of  the  fugitives  from  Spain 
and  Portugal.  In  Turkey  myriads  of  them  settled, 
multiplied,  and  took  root.  Again,  the  largest  por- 
tion of  what  formed  formerly  the  kingdom  of 
Poland,  which,  together  with  the  maritime  pro- 
vinces on  the  Baltic,  contained  the  most  numerous 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  31 

Jewish  population  in  the  world,  fell  into  the  hand 
of  Russia. 

"And  now  the  two  monarchs  in  whose  domi- 
nions the  greatest  part  of  the  Jewish  settlements 
find  themselves,  are  at  war ;  and  should  the  King 
of  the  !N'orth  prevail  against  the  King  of  the  South, 
then  the  mass  of  the  Jews  would  be  at  the  feet  of 
the  Czar ;  and  what  mercy  would  it  have  to  expect 
when  the  butcher  from  the  north  draweth  nigh  ? 
The  treatment  experienced  by  the  Eussian  Jews  at 
the  hand  of  the  Scythian  Gog  Magog,  is  an  earnest 
and  foretaste  of  that  which  would  be  the  melan- 
choly lot  of  those  now  enjoying  the  protection  of 
the  mild  Abdul  Medjid,  should  they  have  the  mis- 
fortune of  falling  into  his  power.  Nicholas  rules 
his  Jewish  subjects  with  an  iron  rod.  Mercy,  upon 
the  very  admission  of  his  admirers,  is  not  an  ele- 
ment of  his  character ;  and  the  Jews  are  guilty  of 
a  most  heinous  oftence,  —  of  an  enormity  of  the 
blackest  dye, —  of  a  crime  most  unpardonable  in  a 
country  the  population  of  which  looks  up  to  its 
monarch  as  to  a  God ;  pays  him  Divine  honours, 
and  considers  his  decisions  as  infallible — the  Jews 
of  Russia  are  guilty  of  dissent  from  the  opinions 
and  the  innermost  convictions  of  the  Czar.  The 
Jews  of  Russia  dare  to  differ  from  their  monarch 
on  points  of  rehgion,  and  to  hold  in  abhorrence 
the  idolatrous  worship  of  a  people  that  bow  down 
before  images,  and  in  mockery  of  the  Bible,  though 
professing  to  believe  in  it,  transgress  its  most  sacred, 
injunctions.     This  dissent,  and  nothing  else,  thus 


32  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

we  declare  aloud  and  empliatically  before  the 
world,  is  the  crime  of  the  Jews  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Emperor." 

So  Jews  flee  from  Eussia,  and  find  rest  in  Pales- 
tine. 

"It  is  true  that  this  is  not  the  pretext  under 
which  they  are  oppressed,  —  crushed,  —  ground 
down,  and  trampled  under  foot.  It  is  true  that 
this  is  not  the  plea  which  is  set  up  in  justification 
of  the  Pharaonic  cruelties  daily  inflicted  upon 
them,  and  under  which  thousands  of  families  are 
driven  away  from  their  native  homes,  where  the 
ashes  of  their  ancestors  repose,  where  the  houses 
of  worship  are  reared  in  which  they  and  their  fore- 
fathers used  to  pray,  where  they  drew  the  first 
breath  of  ]ife,  where  the  child,  the  youth,  the  man 
and  woman,  found  a  play-ground,  a  scene  for  sport, 
and  a  peaceful  dwelling,  and  to  which  they  are 
attached  by  the  most  hallowed  associations  and 
most  endearing  ties,  in  order  to  drag  on  a  miser- 
able existence  in  some  strange  and  dreary  place, 
where  they  are  totally  unknown,  in  most  cases 
hateful  intruders,  and  utterly  deprived  of  the 
means  of  obtaining  a  livelihood.  I^^icholas  may 
disclaim  Asiatic  barbarism,  may  pride  himself 
upon  the  semblance  of  civilization,  difl^used  over 
the  surface  of  Eussian  society;  but,  surely,  the 
wholesale  transportation  of  masses  of  the  popula- 
tion is  nothing  less  than  the  worst  characteristic 
of  that  semi-civilization,  which   unites  the  vices 


SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES.  33 

both  of  refinement  and  barbarism.  The  wholesale 
transportation  of  masses  of  the  population  is  a  feat 
performed  by  such  unstable  powers  as  those  of 
Assyria  and  Babylonia.  The  insane  IN'ebuchadnezzar 
might  be  guilty  of  such  an  enormity  as  carrying 
away  the  population  of  a  whole  country,  but  the 
sagacious  J^apoleon  never  resorted  to  an  expedient 
which  can  only  be  adopted  by  an  individual  who 
laughs  to  scorn  the  most  sacred  rights  of  man,  who 
is  utterly  indifterent  to  the  appalling  misery  and 
agonising  horrors  inflicted  at  his  behest.  It  is  true, 
this  is  not  the  charge  brought  against  the  Jews  in 
justification  of  the  gross  violation,  on  the  part  of 
the  Emperor,  of  the  most  sensitive  feelings,  and  of 
the  most  sacred  and  warmest  aftections,  which  the 
Creator  implanted  in  the  human  breast.  .  .  . 

"  But,  alas !  we  argue  amidst  a  constitutional 
people,  wont  to  discuss  and  base  its  laws  upon  his- 
torical and  rational  foundations.  We  have  no  hope 
whatever  that  our  voice  will  reach  the  Muscovite 
despot,  or  that  our  arguments  will  produce  any 
impression  upon  his  self-will.  We  write  to  give 
vent  to  our  feelings ;  we  write  to  place  the  most 
melancholy  position  of  our  unfortunate  brethren 
in  its  proper  light ;  and  lastly,  we  write  to  show 
how  deeply  interested  we,  as  Jews,  are  in  the 
'struggle  now  agitating  the  East,  and  that  if  as 
Englishmen  it  be  our  duty  to  assist  in  carrying  out 
the  line  of  policy  now  pursued  by  the  Western 
Powers  —  as  Jews  we  should  strain  every  nerve  to 
prevent  Eussia  from  extending  her  influence  still 


34  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

wider,  and  from  thus  preparing  for  our  Eastern 
brethren  the  same  trammels  which  now  chain 
those  whom  an  inscrutable  Providence  has  placed 
under  the  yoke  of  the  despot  in  the  J^orth." 

During  the  action  of  the  Sixth  Vial,  while  the 
stream  of  the  Euphrates  evaporates,  and  the  Jews 
are  rising  and  beginning  to  seek  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  three  unclean  spirits,  like  frogs,  go  out  of 
the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  false  pro- 
phet —  spirits  of  devils,  working  miracles.  All  of 
them  go  forth  unto  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  of 
the  whole  world,  to  gather  them  together  to  the 
battle  of  Armageddon,  the  great  day  of  Almighty 
God.  I  may  observe  that  these  spirits  have  gone 
forth  since  the  year  1820,  when  the  Mahometan 
power  began  to  wane,  to  deceive  the  nations. 
"What  are  these  unclean  spirits  ?  We  understand 
their  nature  from  their  origin.  The  first  is  from 
the  dragon  —  the  Infidel  spirit,  which  is  now  com- 
monly called  Secularism.  The  second  is  from  the 
wild  beast  of  the  abyss,  which  (I  need  not  explain 
to  you)  is  evidently  Eomanism.  The  third,  from 
the  false  prophet,  that  looks  like  a  lamb,  but  speaks 
like  a  dragon,  is  the  spirit  of  Priesthood,  called, 
rudely,  Puseyism,  and,  courteously,  Tractarianism. 
I  appeal  to  every  reader,  if  the  last  ten  years  do 
not  afibrd  irresistible  evidence  of  the  action  of 
these  unclean  spirits. 

In  Germany,  in  France,  and  even  in  England 
and  America,  and  in  every  part  of  the  globe,  the 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  35 

Infidel  spirit,  in  various  disguises,  is  actively  at 
work.  I  do  not  pause  to  adduce  the  evidence. 
Much  of  the  revolutionary  spirit  in  Italy  and  in 
Austria  is  really  infidel.  It  is  a  reaction  from  the 
revolting  superstition  and  despotism  by  which  they 
were  crushed.  The  Eomish  spirit,  again,  so  justly 
represented  by  the  unclean  frog,  has  been  croak- 
ing over  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  country, 
and,  indeed,  over  Christendom,  making  proselytes 
in  every  rank,  swelling  its  battalions  only  for  its 
more  terrific  overthrow,  and  finishing  its  triumphs 
by  the  marvellous  blunder  of  1850,  when  it  snatched 
at  a  gem  in  the  diadem  of  England's  crown,  and 
lost  its  best  footing ;  and  the  Pope  dreamed,  in  his 
folly,  that  the  Eomish  pulse  at  a  well-known 
western  bishop's  wrist  was  the  beat  in  the  heart  of 
Old  England.  The  third  unclean  spirit  is  clearly 
shown  by  Mr.  Elliot  to  be  what  I  have  called  Trac- 
tarianism,  or  the  recent  Anglican  assumption  of 
priestly  power.  This  is  in  many  quarters  the  pre- 
dominant spirit  of  the  age.  And  what  is  its  cha- 
racter ?  It  is  Popery,  minus  Pio  Nino.  It  has  all 
the  apostasy,  without  the  honesty  of  them  that 
subscribe  to  the  Canoi^  of  Trent.  The  minister 
is  merged  in  the  priest — the  glory  of  the  Master  in 
the  pretensions  of  the  messenger — personal  worth 
in  official  claims — the  glory  in  the  altar — and  men's 
souls  are  bowed  down  by  ceremony,  instead  of 
their  hearts  being  captivated  by  love.  In  the  Kew 
Testament,  ministers  of  the  Go^el  are  called  am- 
bassadors.    In  this  system  they  are  priests.     If  a 


86  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

rnan  be  an  ambassador,  he  cannot,  by  the  very 
necessity  of  the  thing,  be  a  priest.  A  priest  is  one 
who  carries  my  cause  to  God,  and  deals  for  me 
with  God ;  an  ambassador  is  one  that  brings  God's 
mind  to  me,  and  deals  with  me  from  God.  If, 
therefore,  a  minister  be  a  priest,  he  cannot  be  an 
ambassador ;  if  he  be  an  ambassador,  he  cannot 
be  a  priest.  Let  Dr.  Pusey  take  which  horn  of  the 
dilemma  he  pleases ;  impaled  on  one  or  the  other 
he  must  be,  and  there  he  must  remain  miserably 
perched,  until  he  fully  renounces  or  fully  accepts 
his  error.* 

l!Tow,  these  unclean  spirits,  whose  names  and 
nature  I  have  briefly  touched  upon,  are  at  this 
moment  inspiring  the  kings  and  princes  and  rulers 
of  the  earth,  secular  and  ecclesiastical,  having 
emerged  under  the  Sixth  Vial,  but  continuing 
under  the  seventh.  Eussia,  driven  on  from  the 
East — Turkey,  roused  against  her  will — the  Czar 
and  the  Sultan  in  mortal  conflict  —  France  and 
England,  in  spite  of  skilful  diplomacy,  precipitating 
the  conflict  they  dread  and  cannot  avert — Austria 
and  Prussia  standing  by,  vainly  attempting  neu- 
trality—  are  the  shadows  of  coming  events,  the 
tokens  of  a  terrible  inspiration.  'New  dispositions 
may  stave  ofi'  or  arrest  for  a  day ;  but  the  urging 
force  of  the  stream  is  too  strong,  and  the  venomous 

*  In  a  recent  leading  article  of  the  Times,  it  was  stated  that 
Dr.  Gumming  regards  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  as  "  the  son  of  per- 
dition." I  hold  the  Pope  to  be  the  wearer  of  this  brand,  and 
the  Tractarians  to  have  "the  mark"  of  Antichrist, 


SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES.  37 

spirits  that  impel  it  too  active  and  powerful,  to  be 
permanently  and  eftectually  repressed.  Their  in- 
fluence is  extended  to,  and  in  action  under,  the 
last  —  called,  in  the  Apocalypse,  the  Seventh  Vial. 
These  unclean  spirits  come  out  under  the  sixth ; 
they  do  not  retire  under  it,  however,  but  continue 
their  action  during  the  seventh ;  and  it  is  during 
their  action,  under  the  pouring  out  of  the  seventh 
vial,  that  the  last  and  greatest  struggle  takes  place. 
Look  across  the  sea,  and  behold  what  is  now  the 
condition  of  Europe.  The  nations  are  heaving  to 
their  centres  —  infidel,  democratical,  and  priestly 
elements  fermenting  and  generating,  in  the  subter- 
ranean depths  of  society,  those  terrific  elements 
which  are  destined  to  explode  and  shatter  thrones, 
rend  shrines,  and  overturn  altars. 

After  the  rise  of  the  angel  of  the  everlasting 
Gospel,  which  occurred  at  the  end  of  the  French 
Eevolution,  and  was  embodied  in  the  various  Bible 
and  Missionary  Societies  that  then  arose  in  bnlliant 
and  beneficent  succession,  another  angel  is  seen  to 
spread  his  pinion,  and  to  proclaim  war  against  the 
errors  of  Babylon.  This  was  fulfilled  in  the  various 
Protestant  societies,  and  especially  in  that  earnest 
and  universal  protest  that  still  sounds  from  thou- 
sands of  pulpits  and  platforms  throughout  the 
land.  These  shall  grow  louder  as  Babylon  grows 
feebler,  and  finally  mingle  with  her  knell.* 

*  I  look  on  the  Society  for  Irish  Church  Missions,  and  the 
Protestant  Reformation  Society's  Special  Mission  to  Romanists 
in  England,  as  the  two  Societies  having  the  most  pressing  and 
peculiar  claims  on  the  age. 

4 


38  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

I  now  proceed  to  infer  the  x^l^ce  we  occupy  in 
the  current  of  the  years,  by  comparing  ancient 
predictions  of  future  scenes  and  events,  with  present 
and  obvious  facts.  It  is  during  the  closing  days 
of  this  dispensation  that  a  remarkable  prophecy  in 
Daniel  comes  to  be  fulfilled.  By  the  evidences  of 
the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy  we  shall  be  able  to 
ascertain  our  position :  "  Many  shall  run  to  and 
fro,  and  knowledge  shall  be  increased."  Could  I 
give  a  more  succinct  and  impressive  description  of 
the  age  in  which  we  live  ?  During  the  last  seven- 
teen years  there  has  been  more  speedy,  frequent, 
and  extended  travelling,  than  during  the  seventeen 
hundred  years  before.  The  stationary  habits  of 
former  generations  have  been  utterly  broken.  The 
numbers  that  move  on  the  iron  rail  have  baffled 
all  anticipation  ;  an  enormous  net- work  of  iron  has 
overspread  east,  west,  north,  and  south,  by  which 
five  hundred  people  at  a  time  are  taken  from  capi- 
tal to  capital,  with  all  the  speed,  accuracy,  and  pre- 
cision of  a  weaver's  shuttle.  The  gold  discoveries 
in  Australia  and  California,  the  mere  surface  of 
which  we  have  only  yet  touched,  have  covered  the 
ocean  with  gigantic  steamers,  till  the  surface  of  the 
sea  is  as  populous  as  the  surface  of  the  land.  The 
antipodes  are  now  reached  from  London  as  soon 
as  the  Hebrides  "used  to  be ;  and,  as  in  the  instance 
of  Panama,  continents  are  severed  and  intersected, 
in  order  to  remove  obstructions  and  impediments 
to  the  advancing  march  of  men.  Apart  from  the 
impetus  given  to  travelling,  the  prodigious  influx 


SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES.  39 

of  gold  (and  I  am  told  that  only  the  other  day  a 
million  arrived  in  this  great  capital)  no  longer 
makes  the  Apocalyptic  statement  a  poetical  extra- 
vagance, but  the  literal  possibility  of  the  day: 
"And  the  streets  of  the  city  were  pure  gold." 
And  whilst  there  shall  be  this  travelling  to  and  fro, 
it  is  added,  "Knowledge  shall  be  increased."  In 
all  directions  this  is  taking  place.  ,  Everybody  is 
seen  prying  into  every  department  of  nature,  art, 
antiquities,  history,  and  science.  An  insatiable 
curiosity  has  seized  every  mind — a  thirst  for  infor- 
mation has  come  upon  every  rank.  Long-buried 
secrets  are  stepping  forth  from  their  hiding-places, 
at  the  bidding  of  men  who  refuse  to  be  disap- 
pointed. Nineveh  has  arisen  from  the  dead,  to  tell 
mankind  what  the  Bible  has  been  telling  cease- 
lessly, "  Holy  men  of  old  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  Polar  realms  are  ex- 
plored; the  secrets  of  the  iceberg  and  the  tenantry 
of  the  frozen  zone  arc  brought  to  light ;  and  the 
attempt  of  a  thousand  years  —  in  pursuit  of  which 
the  gallant  Franklin  and  countless  brave  seamen 
have  perished  —  the  North-west  Passage,  has  at 
length  been  achieved;  and  the  North  Pole  will 
probably  be  as  clearly  revealed  in  a  few  years  as 
the  Equator  is  now.  Medical  science  has  attained 
wondrous  progress  since  Jesus,  who  consecrated  it 
by  his  example,  lived  and  healed,  and  suffered  and 
died.  Those  formidable  epidemics,  the  offspring 
of  our  sin  as  much  as  the  judgment  of  God,  are 
more  thoroughly  understood ;  and  I  do  not  see  why 


40  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  pestilence  which  we  call  typhus,  or  the  other 
pestilence  we  call  fever,  or  the  other  we  call 
cholera,  or  the  last  and  worst  endemic,  rather  than 
epidemic,  we  call  consumption,  may  not,  by  God's 
blessing,  be  as  much  mitigated  as  a  recent  pesti- 
lence, more  destructive  than  any  of  them,  known 
by  the  name  of  small-pox.  "We  see  in  all  these 
things  predicted  progress  in  knowledge.  And  that 
wonderful  anaesthetic  agent,  chloroform,  which  is  a 
very  recent  discovery,  has  mitigated  the  primal 
curse  pronounced  on  one  half  the  human  family, 
and  rendered  the  terrible  operation  of  the  surgeon's 
knife  scarcely  perceptible  to  the  subject  of  it. 

During  the  last  days,  it  is  stated,  as  another  fact 
and  feature,  that  "  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall 
be  preached  among  all  nations  for  a  witness." 
ISTow,  is  not  this  a  distinguishing  sign  of  the  age  ? 
China,  the  impregnable  fortress  of  inveterate  su- 
perstition, has  lifted  up  its  everlasting  gates,  and 
partly  without  and  partly  with  our  teaching,  the 
truths  of  the  King  of  Glory  have  entered,  and  the 
glorious  sound  of  the  Gospel  may  be  now  heard 
reverberating  in  the  streets  of  Pekin;  and  our 
country,  true  to  its  responsibility,  is  pouring  Bibles 
and  missionaries  into  it.  The  proposal  of  the  ex- 
cellent Mr.  James,  of  Birmingham,  to  send  a  mil- 
lion Chinese  Testaments  into  China,  has  been 
taken  up,  and  more  than  the  expense  is  now  pro- 
vided. In  all  probability,  a  half  million  of  Old 
Testaments  will  be  added.  The  tribes  that  cluster 
around  the  North  Pole,  whose  home  is  the  region 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  41 

of  pei'petual  snow,  have  been  sought  out  for  bo 

many  years   apparently  to  gratify  curiosity,  but 

really  to  complete  the  fullilment  of  the  prophecy : 

"  This  gospel  shall  be  preached  as  a  witness  among 

all  nations."     The  Moslem,  the  Hindoo,  and  the 

Chinaman,  are  emerging  into  the  everlasting  light. 

In  every  tongue  on  earth  the  Gospel  has  its  music 

and  its  glad  echo.    In  every  latitude  and  longitude 

the  cross  is  revealed,  obstructing  walls  are  falling ; 

and  where  Christianity  may  not  be  accepted  as  a 

remedy,  it  is  everywhere  heajrd  as  a  witness,  and 

is,  therefore,  according  to  the  words  of  our  Lord, 

a  precursor  of  the  end. 

Another  symptom  of  the  close  of  this  age  is  now 

patent,  the  great  boasting  of  the  Romish  Babylon. 

Never  did  the  Church  of  Rome  boast  louder  than 

she  does  now.     She  saith  in  her  heart,  "I  sit  a 

queen,  and  am  no  widow."     This  is  dotage,  not 

power.     Her  last  day  shall  be  her  proudest,  her 

dying  resistance  will  be  the  greatest.     She  will  go 

down,  as  sure  as  there  is  truth  in  prophecy ;  but 

like  a  ship  at  sea,  every  sail  set,  and  her  prophecies 

of  supremacy  lifted  up  loudest  and  most  impudent 

to  the  end.     She  has  crushed  every  attempt  within 

to  rectify  her  errore  and  reform  her  corruptions ; 

she  has  persecuted  .with  the  sword  and  fagot  every 

exertion  from  without  to  awaken  her  to  a  sense  of 

apostasy ;  her  pride  has  grown  with  her  years ;  her 

pretensions  are,  in  the  year  1854,  louder  than  in 

the  palmy  days  of  Hildebrand  himself.     But  her 

imperial  splendour  shall  be  her  funeral  pall ;  her 
4  * 


42  SIG^NS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

present  glory  shall   soon   only  light   her  to  her 
grave. 

At  this  ver}^  period,  immediately  before  the  de- 
struction of  the  Crescent  in  the  East  and  of  the 
Tiara  in  the  West,  we  read  in  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment prophecy,  there  will  be  a  general  war  over 
the  length  and  breadth  of  Europe;  the  unclean 
spirits  preparing  the  kings  of  the  earth  for  the 
great  battle,  or  rather  war,  as  the  Scripture  calls 
it,  of  God  Almighty.  Many  and  terrible  are  the 
signs  of  the  fulfilment.  The  revolutionary  fires 
that  are  smouldering  under  every  throne  will  one 
day  burst  out ;  and  every  capital  in  Europe  shall 
blaze,  every  village  become  a  camp,  and  every 
country  a  battle-field.  Assembled  kings  shall  de- 
bate their  very  existence  in  the  high  places  of  the 
earth,  and  kingdom  dash  against  kingdom,  like 
stars  broken  loose  from  their  orbits;  and  rulers 
fall  from  their  high  places,  like  leaves  or  unripe 
fruit  from  the  fig-tree,  when  shaken  by  fierce  winds. 
Every  acre  of  Europe  is  covered  at  this  hour  with 
strange  and  ominous  shadows,  which  coming  events 
cast  before.  Auguries  of  looming  evils  have  found 
access  to  cabinets  and  councils ;  and  statesmen  at 
their  wits'  end  look  pale  and  perplexed,  while  their 
hearts  tremble  for  fear  of  the  things  that  are  coming 
on  the  earth.  1848  was  a  great  sea-wave,  rising 
and  reaching  far  up  the  shores  of  Europe,  and  then 
receding,  but  only  to  gather  fresh  volume,  and  to 
come  up  again  augmented  in  mass,  and  with  ac- 
cumulated speed,  to  burst  over  the  lowliest  hearth- 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  43 

stone  and  the  loftiest  roof-tree,  convulsing  all 
things,  wasting  many,  yet  sweeping  away  the  cor- 
rupting drift-weed  of  centuries,  and  destined,  we 
believe,  in  the  purposes  of  God,  to  baptize  rather 
than  ovenvhelra  and  bury  the  earth. 

Another  remarkable  sign  of  the  times,  and,  in 
its  place,  significant  of  our  impression  of  the  near- 
ness of  the  end  of  the  age,  is  the  intensity  that  is 
concentrated  in  almost  every  sphere  and  depart- 
ment of  life.  The  object  may  be  great,  or  the 
pursuit  may  he  in  itself  worthless ;  but  everywhere 
you  perceive  that  energy,  and  vigour,  and  great 
force  are  in  it.  Let  it  be  the  manufacture  of  a  pin, 
or  the  enlightenment  of  a  soul,  —  let  it  be  the  ser- 
vice of  a  master  behind  ^he  counter,  or  of  our  gra- 
cious Queen  in  the  cabinet, — there  is  condensed  in 
it  evident,  and  palpable,  and  untiring  energy.  For 
evil  or  for  good,  the  age  of  apathy  is  gone.  Men 
are  in  earnest  in  all  they  do ;  they  are  doing  what 
they  undertake  with  all  their  might.  All  seem  to 
feel  as  if  the  time  for  their  mission  were  pretenia- 
turally  short,  and  the  force  they  have  extremely 
inadequate,  and  the  night  of  time,  or  the  night  of 
death,  too  near  to  allow  of  respite  from  their  toils, 
or  a  relaxation  of  their  energies. 

What  is  Tractarianism  but  old  High  Churchism 
in  earnest?  Ignorant  of  vital  and  evangelical 
truth,  it  is  occupied  about  robes,  and  candles,  and 
genuflexions,  and  crosses,  and  phylacteries.  Better 
however  earnest  anything  than  dead  everything. 


44  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES. 

We  pray  that  their  earnestness  may  "be  directed  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  to  objects  worthy  of  it! 

This  intensity  is  a  prophetic  instinct,  a  sign  of 
the  times,  an  omen  of  the  retiring  snn  and  the 
'  gathering  darkness,  the  termination  of  the  groans 
of  humanity,  the  travail  of  nature,  and  the  wind- 
ing up  of  a  drama  of  which  angels  have  been  for 
six  thousand  years  the  spectators,  and  men  the 
solemn  actors.  If  this  be  a  sign  of  the  times,  and 
the  character  of  the  men  of  this  world,  let  us 
Christians  excel,  not  fall  behind  them.  "Work 
while  it  is  called  To-day."  "  Whatsoever  thy  hand 
findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might."  The  warning 
cry  is  ringing  loud  and  clear  from  every  quarter 
of  the  compass — "  The  Bmlegroom  cometh  !"  Are 
our  lamps  burning?  Are  our  loins  girt?  Are  our 
hands  in  the  shop,  in  the  counting-house,  the  se- 
nate, but  our  hearts,  and  our  hopes,  and  our  trea- 
sure in  heaven,  where  Christ  is,  and  from  whence 
w^e  look  for  the  Lord  ? 

Another  very  pregnant  and  remarkable  sign  of 
the  times,  and  peculiarly  suggestive,  is  the  disinte- 
gration and  disorganization  of  all  things.'  Where 
reformation  is  refused,  revolution  begins.  Whether 
there  be  or  be  not  the  hope  of  improvement,  there 
is  all  but  a  universal  determination  to  have  change. 
Age  is  no  defence;  past  services  to  generations 
gathered  to  their  rest  is  no  apology.  Some  who 
were  in  former  days  the  strenuous  champions  of 
things  that  be,  have  now  become  the  earnest  advo- 
cates of  new  creations.     Some  may  be  factious, 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.  45 

others  restless,  but  all  seem  to  be  unanimous  in 
their  desire  to  alter  the  existing  economy.  This  is 
a  feature  of  the  day  —  a  sign  of  the  times.  And 
what  means  it?  It  is  the  disorganization  of  the 
old,  that  is  ready  to  pass  away,  preparatory  to  the 
emergence  from  beneath  the  horizon  of  a  new  and 
more  glorious  order  of  things,  which  God  has  pro- 
mised, and  man  vainly  expects  he  can  himself 
create.  In  chemistry  and  in  the  moral  arrange- 
ments of  the  world,  the  disintegration  of  existing 
combinations  is  always  preparatory  to  new  and 
frequently  more  beautiful  revelations  of  the  glory 
of  the  Maker,  and  the  beauty  of  the  things  He  has 
made.  Chaos  grew  into  genesis  six  thousand  years 
ago.  The  fall  will  issue  in  the  regeneration  and 
restoration  of  all  things.  Designedly  or  undesign- 
edly, we  are  breaking  up  the  present,  in  order  to 
make  way  for  the  construction  of  the  future ;  and 
the  speed,  and  energy,  and  universal  consent  with 
which  we  enter  on  the  work,  is  one  of  the  signs 
that  the  new  heaven  and  new  earth  wherein  dwell- 
eth  righteousness  is  at  our  doors,  and  that  pre- 
sentiments, which  are  prophecies,  are  within  us. 
The  solemn  prophecy  of  Ezekiel  seems  the  veiy 
type  and  sj>irit  of  the  age : — "  I  will  overturn,  over- 
turn, overturn ;  and  it  shall  be  no  more,  until  He 
shall  come  whose  right  it  is."  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  Yet  once,  it  is  a  little  while,  and  I  will  shake 
the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the 
dry  land;  and  I  will  shake  all  nations,  and  the 
Desire  of  all  nations  shall  come ;  and  I  will  fill 


46  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

this   house   T^dth    my  glory,   saith    the  Lord   of 
hosts." 

Another  sign  of  the  close  of  this  dispensation  is 
one  that  is  exciting  disputes  and  suggesting  diffi- 
culties among  many — the  expectation  of  superna- 
tural, or  rather  infra-natural  manifestations  of  the 
wicked  one.  I  cannot  shut  my  eyes  to  the  predic- 
tions of  Scripture  as  to  the  character  of  the  last 
days.  Feats  above  the  level  of  the  human  are 
ascribed  to  the  Antichrist — assumed  and  exercised 
by  the  Church  of  Rome  —  and  in  intenser  degree, 
and  with  yet  more  appalling  emphasis,  will  in  all 
probability  be  displayed,  before  Eome  sinks  into 
the  fiery  gulf,  and  Antichrist  is  destroyed  by  the 
brightness  of  the  Eedeemer's  advent.  Let  us  hear 
such  predictions  as  these :  (2  Thess.  ii.  9) — "  "Whose 
coming  is  after  (or  according  to)  the  working  (or 
energy)  of  Satan,  with  all  power,  and  signs,  and 
lying  wonders."  The  phrase,  "lying  wonders," 
does  not  here  mean  lying  miracles,  but  miracles 
that  profess  to  prove  what  is  a  lie.  !N"ow,  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  at  the  present  moment  radiating 
miracles  she  calls  so  in  all  directions.  Many  of 
them,  as  given  by  Dr.  Newman,  are  exceedingly 
absurd,  and  proofs  of  the  Oratorian's  wonderful 
credulity  ;  but  I  am  not  sure  that  the  priests  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  have  not  done  supernatural,  or 
rather  infra-natural  deeds,  above  the  reach  of 
"human  power,  by  the  inspiration  and  the  aid  of 
the  wicked  one.  I  remember  one  day, — and  I  re- 
lated the  circumstance  once  before,  in  a  Lecture  in 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  47 

Exeter  hall, — sitting  in  my  study,  when  the  servant 
came  in,  and  said,  "  A  strange-looking  gentleman 
wants  to  see  you."  The  gentleman  was  ushered 
in.  The  moment  he  appeared,  I  scanned  him  from 
top  to  toe,  with  all  a  Scotchman's  penetration  and 
watchfulness.  As  I  looked  at  him,  I  saw  that  he 
had  a  hat,  which  he  politely  took  off,  so  broad  that 
it  would  have  been  an  admirable  parasol  in  sun- 
shine, and  a  splendid  umbrella  in  a  heavy  shower. 
I  noticed  that  he  had  a  dingy  cloak  all  over  him, 
reaching  down  nearly  to  his  very  ankles,  with  a 
large  cross,  and  a  heart  pierced  by  a  dagger  on  his 
left  breast,  and  written  round  it,  '' Passio  Jesu 
Christi  Domini.''  I  looked  at  his  feet,  but  instead 
of  seeing  those  very  vulgar  and  secular  things 
called  boots  or  shoes,  I  noticed  that  he  had  no 
stockings  and  no  shoes,  and,  instead,  a  sole  of 
leather  below  each  foot,  each  string  coming  be- 
tween each  toe,  and  all  tied  round  his  ankles ;  and 
the  knot  or  bow,  I  think  you  call  it,  was  so  exqui- 
sitely tied,  that,  if  he  were  not  a  monk,  I  should 
have  said  a  lady  must  have  tied  it,  for  no  man's 
iingers  could  have  done  it.  Though  I  had  seen 
him  only  once  in  my  life  before,  in  a  railway  car- 
riage, I  knew  him  at  once,  and  said,  "  I  believe  I 
have  the  honour  of  addressing  the  Hon.  and  Rev. 
George  Spencer?"  (brother  of  the  Earl  Spencer.) 
He  said,  "  That  was  my  name ;  but  my  name  now 
is  Father  Ignatius,  the  Passionist."  I  said,  "  I  am 
very  glad  to  see  you."  He  said  he  had  called  upon 
Lord  John  Russell,  and  Dr.  Hook,  and  ^r.  Villi^rs, 


48  SIGJs^S   OF   THE   TIMES. 

I  tliink,  and  many  others ;  and,  knowing  I  had  a 
deep  interest  in  the  Roman  Catholic  question,  he 
had  come  to  me  to  make  a  grand  proposition, 
which  he  had  submitted  to  others.  I  said,  "Let 
me  hear  it."  He  answered,  ''It  is  this;  that  you 
cease  to  preach  any  more  against  Popery  on  your 
side,  and  that  we  cease  to  preach  anymore  against 
Protestantism  on  our  side,  and  begin  to  pray  for 
unity."  I  said  to  him,  ""Well,  that  seems  very 
beautiful ;  but  how  can  two  walk  together  except 
they  be  agreed  ?  I  am  preparing  a  Lecture  for 
next  Tuesday  evening,  the  very  title  of  which  is, 
'  The  Pope  the  Man  of  Sin : '  now,  how  can  you 
and  I  pull  together?"  I  said,  "  Father  Ignatius,  I 
tell  you  what  we  can  do.  You  can  meet  me  at 
Exeter  Hall  an  hour  before  the  time;  you  shall 
explain  for  half-an-hour  your  plan ;  I  will  explain 
in  half-an-hour  my  difficulties ;  then  I  will  give 
you  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  correction  of  my  blun- 
ders ;  and  you  can  then  listen  to  my  Lecture."  He 
said  "  he  would  be  happy  to  come  and  avail  him- 
self of  the  opportunity,"  but  refused  to  listen  to 
my  Lecture.  He  objected  to  controversy  altoge- 
ther. I  said,  "  Will  you  let  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England  begin  with  that  beautiful  col- 
lect, '  0  God,  to  whom  all  hearts  are  open,  all 
desires  known,  and  from  whom  no  secrets  are  hid,' 
and  the  Lord's  prayer?"  He  said,  "I^o,  certainly 
not ;  it  is  contrary  to  our  convictions  as  Catholics 
to  pray  with  those  that  are  heretics :  therefore  we 
cannot  pray  together."     "Well,  Father,"  I  said, 


SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES.  49 

after  an  hour's  convei'sation,  "sometimes  I  am 
struck  with  the  conviction  that  there  is  somethin<r 
in  your  Church  ahove  the  level  of  the  human.  I 
see  such  devotedness  in  your  priests  —  (and  who 
can  deny  it  ?) — I  see  such  sacrifices  made  by  some 
— (and  it  is  right  that  we  should  concede  it) — I  see 
in  yourself,  for  instance,  such  sequestration  to  what 
I  believe  to  be  an  awful  and  a  miserable  supersti- 
tion —  I  see  in  you  such  untiring  earnestness,  that 
I  sometimes  begin  to  think.  Father  Ignatius,  that 
your  Church  has  something  supernatural  or  infra- 
natural  about  it."  He  paused,  and,  looking  me  in 
the  face,  said  with  great  solemnity,  "Dr.  Cumming, 
if  the  Church  of  Rome  be  not  the  only  Church  of 
the  living  God,  she  is  the  master-piece  of  the  devil ; 
she  can  be  nothing  between."  I  said  to  him,  "  You 
will  pardon  me,  but  I  solemnly  believe  your  Church 
belongs  to  the  second  alternative  you  mentioned." 
He  said,  "  It  is  what  I  expected ;  it  is  what  I  sup- 
posed; and,  therefore,  it  does  not  at  all  surprise 
me."  And  we  parted.  I  gave  him  a  little  book — 
a  very  small  book — called,  "  Christ  receiving  Sin- 
ners." "Now,"  I  said,  "Father  Ignatius,  we  may 
never  meet  again  in  this  world ;  will  you  read  this 
book?  It  has  no  eloquence;  but  it  is  a  simple 
statement  of  the  way  of  a  sinner's  acceptance  with 
God,  as  I  believe  it  to  be  true."  He  said,  "  I  will 
take  your  book,  but  I  won't  promise  to  read  it." 
"Well,  then,"  I  said,  "if  you  won't  read  it,  I  will 
take  the  book  back;  I  can  find  plenty  that  will 
read  it."  "Well,"  he  said,  "you  have  been  so 
5 


60  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

courteous  and  kind,  and  have  received  me  in  such 
a  pleasant  manner,  that  for  once  I  will  promise  to 
read  the  book."  I  entered  his  name  on  its  title- 
page  as  a  gift  from  me ;  and  I  have  prayed  —  and 
prayer  is  the  noblest  controversial  weapon  we  can 
employ  —  that  it  may  please  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
bless  it  to  that  misguided,  simple  man,  too  simple 
to  be  the  tool  of  the  Vatican,  so  that  he  may  come 
out  of  his  prison-house,  and  testify,  amid  such  a 
dense  mass  of  listening  immortals  as  that  which 
meets  in  Exeter  Hall,  the  glorious  Gospel  of  God, 
in  contrast  with  the  soul-destroying  superstitions 
and  corruptions  of  Rome.  I  do  not  dwell  upon 
this ;  I  quote  it  merely  to  show  that  my  conviction 
of  the  supernatural  character  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  is  not  peculiar  to  me.  If  Satan  inspires  the 
Papacy,  he  will  enable  it  to  do  signs  and  wonders. 

Some  think  that  already  Satan  is  manifesting 
supernatural  agency,  and  doing  feats  that  cor- 
respond to  those  predicted  to  occur  in  the  last  days 
of  our  dispensation.  We  must  be  on  our  guard 
against  the  secularism  which  excludes  the  super- 
natural altogether,  and  the  superstition  which  sees 
supernatural  feats  everywhere. 

Professor  IsTewman  represents  the  one  class, 
Dr.  Newman  the  other.  But  caution  is  not  incre- 
dulity, and  credulity  is  not  Christianity. 

Some  excellent  men  allege  that  table-turning  and 
table-speaking  is  a  sign  of  the  times,  a  proof  of  the 
presence  of  Satan  and  of  the  occurrence  of  infra- 
natural  miracles.     Now,  I  think  I  am  competent 


SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES.  51 

to  speak  on  this  subject ;  it  is  not  an  impertinent 
pretence  to  say  so.  I  cannot  agree  with  some,  who 
denounce  its  claims  to  be  supernatural  as  primd 
facie  false,  because  impossible ;  nor  can  I  agree 
with  those  who  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  a  manifestation  of  Satanic  power,  or  direct 
communication  with  disembodied  spirits,  or  in  any 
sense  a  superhuman  thing.  I  was  asked  to  go  and 
visit  two  of  the  most  able  and  effective  performers 
upon  tables  in  the  house  of  a  dear  and  valued 
friend,  a  member  of  my  congregation.  I  watched, 
suspiciously,  the  whole  from  beginning  to  end.  it 
is  important,  however,  to  discriminate  two  things 
confounded.  There  is  table-moving,  which  is  one 
thing;  there  is  table-speaking,  or  disembodied 
spirits  speaking  through  tables  (as  it  is  alleged), 
which  is  a  totally  different  thing.  The  one  may 
be  a  scientific  phenomenon ;  the  other  I  shall  try 
to  describe  as  I  think  it  deserves.  It  may  seem 
presumptuous  to  say,  even  with  deepest  deference, 
that  I  am  satisfied  that  Faraday  in  his  letter  does 
not  explain  the  phenomenon.  This  may  be  my 
error,  but  it  is  my  impression.  Whether  it  be  by 
electricity,  or  galvanism,  or  mesmerism,  or  any 
other  yet  undetected  motive  and  subtle  element,  it 
is  a  fact,  that  the  fingers  of  a  lady  laid  lightly  on  a 
heavy  table,  made  it,  in  my  presence,  spin  round, 
lift  its  legs,  stamp  the  floor,  and  throw  itself  into 
most  extraordinary  and  unbecoming  convulsions. 
Table-turning,  however,  is  an  amusement  for 
children.     Table-talking  is  not  so.     The  one  is 


52  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

child's-play,  the  other  is  either  downright  nonsense 
or  worse.  It  is  important  that  we  should  under- 
stand, if  possible,  what  pretends  to  be  above 
human;  for  while  expecting  miracles,  and  signs 
supernatural,  or  rather  infra-natural,  in  the  last 
days,  we  must  be  on  our  guard  against  imposture, 
and  prepare  to  decide  what  are,  and  w^hat  are  not 
so.  My  friends  asserted  in  their  drawing-room,  not 
only  that  this  new  motive  power  was  true  (which 
may  or  may  not  be),  but  that  there  was  something 
above  and  beyond  table-moving  in  it,  or  the  super- 
natural. It  may  be  electricity,  it  may  be  galvanism, 
it  may  be  neither ;  or  it  may  be  some  other  natural 
influence  which  we  do  not,  at  present,  know  of;  or 
it  may  be  what  Faraday  suggests.  I  am  aware 
there  are  difiiculties  in  supposing  the  existence  in 
human  fingers  of  an  undetected  power,  for  how 
does  it  happen  that  when  people  sit  down  to  dine, 
and  lay  their  fingers  on  the  table,  it  does  not  begin 
to  dance?  But  it  is  a  fact  that  I  saw  a  table, 
touched  lightly  by  the  fingers  of  a  lady,  whose 
muscular  powers,  I  am  sure,  were  not  very  formi- 
dable, rise,  leap,  and  move  from  side  to  side  in  the 
most  extraordinaiy  manner.  Faraday  I  think  does 
not,  and  I  cannot  explain  this.  But  it  is  not  there- 
fore supernatural.  My  two  friends,  however,  said 
that  it  w^as  supernatural.  They  set  the  table  in 
motion,  and  then  asked  me  to  put  questions  to  the 
supposed  spirit,  which  had  just  taken  possession  of 
the  table.  I  said,  "  JSTo,  I  decline  to  do  so ;  I  am 
here  simply  as  a  spectator,  and  have  reasons  for 


SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES.  63 

declining,  which  I  need  not  state.  I  am  hero 
simply  as  an  inquirer :  you  begin,  and  I  will  look 
on."  The  question  was  asked,  "  Do  you  know  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Reeve?"  The  table  gave  three  gentle 
taps,  which  means  in  the  table  vernacular,  "Yes." 
"Do  you  know  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fisk?"  The  table 
gave  three  gentle  raps,  in  precisely  the  same 
manner.  After  asking  two  or  three  questions 
about  various  persons,  present  or  absent,  and  re- 
ceiving similar  polite  and  courteous  replies,  my 
friends  asked  the  supposed  spirit,  "  Do  you  know 
Dr.  Gumming?"  The  table  positively  forgot  all 
the  respect  due  to  a  lady's  drawing-room,  and 
threw  itself  into  a  state  of  convulsive  kicking, 
which  made  me  anxious,  not  about  my  creed,  but 
about  the  table's  safety.  My  friends  then  asked 
how  many  shillings  were  in  my  pocket.  It  guessed 
eleven,  and  there  were  only  five.  They  then  asked 
how  many  sovereigns  I  had.  It  guessed  ^ve,  and 
I  had  only  one.  It  was  then  asked,  "Will  you 
answer  Dr.  Gumming  at  all  ?"  The  answer,  accord- 
ing to  their  interpretation,  was  "Ko,"  in  the  most 
decided  manner.  "Why  not?"  An  alphabet  was 
then  laid  on  the  table,  and,  certainly,  the  proceed- 
ing was  very  curious.  We  began:  A,  the  table 
stood  still ;  B,  it  gave  three  taps.  That  was  set 
down  as  the  first  letter  of  the  answer.  We  then 
began  again:  A,  the  table  was  silent;  B,  still 
silent.  We  went  on  till  we  came  to  E,  then  there 
were  three  taps.  This  was  proceeded  with  till  the 
words  were  made  out,  —  "Because  he  laughs." 
5* 


64  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

When  I  heard  this,  I  submitted  that  my  laughing 
and  incredulity  ought  to  be  a  reason  for  convincing 
me,  and  not  lea\^ng  me  a  sceptic.  But  the  table, 
or  if  not  the  table  its  manipulator,  seemed  to  dis- 
like me  excessively.  I  confess  I  saw  much  that 
was  curious ;  a  great  deal  ingeniously  done ;  but  I 
have  also  seen  very  remarkable  things  in  the  feats 
of  tumblers  in  the  streets  of  London,  in  the  tricks 
of  card-shufflers  in  a  room,  and  in  the  conversa- 
ziones of  ventriloquists  in  a  chimney-nook.  But 
I  have  seen  nothing  necessarily  supernatural  about 
it ;  and  mark,  if  there  be  a  doubt  that  a  thing  is  a 
miracle,  it  is  no  miracle.  In  the  days  of  our  Lord 
there  was  no  doubt  expressed  by  bitter  enemies 
that  what  he  did  was  miraculous ;  the  puzzle  was, 
"Is  it  from  the  devil  below,  or  is  it  from  God 
above?"  But  table-talking  is  so  equivocal,  that 
the  parties  present  witnessing  the  so-called  mira- 
culous responses,  are  puzzled  to  determine  v^hether 
it  be  supernatural,  or  only  very  clever  and  talented. 
Now,  in  the  last  days,  I  look  not  for  equivocal 
feats  and  dubious  miracles,  but  for  terrible  startling 
manifestations  of  superhuman  power,  which  shall 
deceive,  if  possible,  the  very  elect. 

But  a  w^ord  more  on  this  subject.  I  have  read 
on  one  side  the  pamphlets  of  the  Kev.  Mr.  Close 
and  the  Rev.  D.  "Wilson,  who  have  written  very 
ably  and  admirably ;  though  I  do  not  agree  with 
either  as  to  the  grounds  of  their  decision,  yet  I 
agree  with  their  conclusions.  I  have  read  every 
pamphlet  I  could  find  on  the  other  side,  from  that 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  55 

of  Mr.  Dibdin,  one  of  the  best  and  most  pious  men 
in  London,  to  those  of  Mr.  Godfrey,  Mr.  Gillson, 
and  others  who  have  written  in  favour  of  their 
views;  and  in  reading  those  various  interesting 
works,  I  noticed  that  each  inquirer  of  the  table  got 
all  his  answers  very  much  in  the  direction  of  his 
own  wishes  and  predilections.  Let  us  mark  well 
that  fact.  For  instance:  according  to  the  Rev. 
E,.  W.  Dibdin,  demons  enter  into  the  table  and  tell 
lies,  and  declare  that  the  worship  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  is  right ;  that  is,  they  are  Jesuits,  or  Popish 
demons.  According  to  Mr.  Godfrey,  it  is  the  spirits 
of  departed  sinners  that  emerge  from  hell  and  con- 
firm every  doctrine  of  the  Bible ;  that  is,  Protest- 
ant spirits.  According  to  Owen,  the  infidel  and 
Socialist,  Voltaire,  and  Diderot,  and  D'Alembert, 
and  Paine,  all  come  down  from  eternal  happiness, 
and  tell  him  how  perfectly  happy  they  are,  and 
have  been,  and  expect  to  be !  According  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Gillson,  spirits  speak  against  Popery; 
while,  according  to  Mr.  Dibdin,  they  praise  it,  as 
if  they  had  been  the  priests  of  Dr.  Wiseman.  Now, 
I  cannot  believe  that  an  evil  spirit  would  speak  the 
truth,  or  attest  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible ;  for  if 
a  kingdom  be  divided  against  itself,  how  can  it 
stand  ?  I  cannot,  in  the  next  place,  believe  that 
an  evil  spirit  would  be  so  stupid  a  blunderer  as  to 
preach  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  to  so  sound 
and  pious  a  Protestant  as  Mr.  Dibdin.  And  I  can 
never  believe  that  godly,  pious,  and  evangelical 
ministers,  are  the  media  by  whom  devils  come  from 


66  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

hell,  to  tell  lies  or  truths  to  mankind.  Nor  can  I 
believe  that  "Alfred  Brown,"  the  name  given  by 
one  spirit,  could  describe  his  torment,  as  recorded 
in  the  book  of  Mr.  Godfrey ;  or  that  any  other  lost 
spirit  ever  can  be,  or  is,  suffered  to  come  up  to  this 
world  and  tell  the  transactions  of  its  awful  prison- 
house,  as  long  as  I  read  the  petition  of  the  rich 
man  and  the  decisive  answer  that  was  given  him. 
"  I  pray  thee,  father,  that  thou  wouldest  send  Laza- 
rus unto  my  father's  house,  for  I  have  five  brethren, 
that  he  may  testify  unto  them,  lest  they  also  come 
into  this  place  of  torment.  And  Abraham  said 
unto  him.  They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets :  if 
they  hear  not  them,  neither  would  they  be  per- 
suaded though  one  rose  from  the  dead."  Now 
mark  you,  if  the  Old  Testament  alone  was  suffi- 
cient eighteen  hundred  years  ago  to  render  un- 
necessary and  impossible  an  apparition  from  the 
dead  to  attest  its  truth,  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
together  are,  a  fortiori,  more  than  sufficient  to 
render  unnecessary,  unexpected,  impossible,  un- 
true, an  apparition  of  a  spirit  from  the  realms  of 
the  lost  for  the  same  object  and  mission.  I  expect 
supernatural  deeds  before  this  dispensation  closes ; 
but  table-talking  is  not  such  proof  of  the  manifes- 
tation of  Satan  as  we  are  to  look  for.  Besides, 
Satan  has  higher  game  to  fly  at ;  he  is  at  present 
too  busy  in  spreading  German  Rationalism,  Trac- 
tarianism.  Popery,  Mormonism,  and  various  kinds 
of  moral  evil,  to  have  any  disposable  force  and 
time  to  spare  for  such  bungling  manifestation  as 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  57 

table-talking.  I  admit  that  there  is  much  in  it  as 
a  physical  phenomenon  that  is  curious,  much  that  I 
cannot  explain ;  but  I  protest  against  the  conclu- 
sion that,  because  I  cannot  explain  a  phenomenon, 
I  am  bound  to  attribute  it  to  supernatural  and 
miraculous  agency.  The  only  trace  of  the  serpent's 
presence,  if  such  it  be  at  all,  that  I  can  discover  in 
the  matter,  is,  I  confess,  to  me  a  very  sad  one.  It 
is  this :  that  the  absurd  excitement  it  has  produced 
should  make  lunatics  in  America  —  that  the  mon- 
strous thing  should  be  organized  into  a  church,  as 
they  call  it,  in  Philadelphia  —  that  a  clergyman 
should  advertise  a  Lecture  on  the  theoJogy  of 
table-talk  in  the  metropolis  of  the  world ;  and  that 
Christian  ministers,  of  undoubted  piety  and  talent, 
purity  of  life,  and  clearness  of  mind,  should  waste 
their  influence  and  weaken  their  power,  by  publish- 
ing mediaeval  fancies,  monkish  nonsense,  profane 
and  anile  fables. 

Signs  are  predicted  in  the  firmament,  and  these, 
too,  are  also  multiplying.  Every  day's  newspaper 
contains  new  and  stinking  letters  descriptive  of 
astral  phenomena,  alike  unexpected  and  remark- 
able. For  the  last  three  or  four  years  we  have 
heard  of  new  planets,  unexpected  comets,  brilliant 
auroras,  lunar  rainbows,  and  yet  more  brilliant 
and  remarkable  meteoric  appearances.  I  am  not 
superstitious,  but  I  am  not  sceptical.  I  cannot 
help  remembering  that  "signs  and  sights  in  the 
heavens"  are  the  phenomena  of  the  last  days,  and 
precede  the  appearance  of  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man. 


58  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

Then,  in  the  next  place,  the  Seventh  Vial,  the 
last  apocalyptic  symbol  of  the  judgments  of  God 
on  earth,  will  be  poured  into  the  air.  We  read  : 
"And  the  seventh  angel  poured  out  his  vial  into  the 
air ;  and  there  came  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple 
of  heaven,  from  the  throne,  saying.  It  is  done. 
And  there  were  voices,  and  thunders,  and  light- 
nings ;  and  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  such  as 
was  not  since  men  were  upon  the  earth,  so  mighty 
an  earthquake,  and  so  great.  And  the  great  city 
was  divided  into  three  parts,  and  the  cities  of  the 
nations  fell :  and  great  Babylon  came  in  remem- 
brance before  God,  to  give  unto  her  the  cup  of 
the  wine  of  the  fierceness  of  his  wrath.  And 
every  island  fled  away,  and  the  mountains  were 
not  found.  And  there  fell  upon  men  a  great  hail 
out  of  heaven,  every  stone  about  the  weight  of  a 
talent.  'Now  mark,  this  seventh  vial  was  filled 
with  the  last  plague;  the  word  "plague"  comes 
from  the  Greek  -TrXT^^Tj,  a  stroke,  and  means  pesti- 
lence and  calamit}^  of  every  sort.  This  last  vial 
being  poured  into  the  air  denotes  the  universality 
of  its  influence,  whatever  that  influence  may  be. 
It  will  reach  the  loftiest  throne ;  it  will  descend  to 
the  hovels  of  the  poorest  cotter,  and  make  itself  so 
felt  that  its  sprinklings  will  be  unmistakeable  as 
the  last  terrible  baptism  of  our  world.  InTow,  all 
these  vials  have  a  literal  as  well  as  a  moral  signifi- 
cance. The  prophecy  of  a  "  star  from  the  East," 
denoted  figuratively  the  Messiah ;  but  when  Jesus 
was  born,  a  literal  star  appeared.     So  this  vial  has 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.  59 

its  physical  and  its  moral  meaning.  This  vial  let  fall 
its  first  sprinklings,  I  believe,  in  1848 ;  and  its  in- 
fluence still  spreads.  From  that  day  to  tliis  it  has 
been  on  the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  from  the  vines  of 
France,  Spain,  and  Madeira,  to  the  potato  of  Ireland 
— a  universal  and  destructive  blight.  Where  is  its 
birth-place  ?  Medical  men  tell  you,  in  the  air.  In  vain 
chemists  analyse  it ;  in  vain  microscopes  are  applied ; 
in  vain  is  it  assigned  to  a  peculiarity  of  soil,  season, 
climate,  insects.  The  only  ultimate  explanation  is 
the  apocalyptic  taint,  the  contents  of  the  angel's  vial 
vitiating  the  air,  the  source  of  life  and  nutriment, 
with  its  terrible  and  poisonous  miasma.  The  physi- 
cal proof  of  the  action  of  the  seventh  vial  is  thus  com- 
plete. But  its  eftects  are  not  confined  to  vegetable 
life.  Cholera,  a  new  and  devastating  pestilence  ex- 
isting like  other  diseases  since  the  fall,  but  first  seen 
here  in  1832,  as  a  premonition,  came  down  upon  Eng- 
land in  1849 ;  and  ere  it  ceased,  I  recollect — for  I  was 
in  the  midst  of  it  —  three  thousand  per  week  were 
gathered  to  their  graves.  No  theory  explains  this; 
no  medical  skill  has  penetrated  its  secret.  Poverty, 
filth,  bad  drainage,  crowded  hovels,  long  hours  in 
un ventilated  shops,  do  not  create  it ;  but  they  draw 
it  down  as  iron  conductors  draw  down  the  light- 
ning ;  and  then  they  nurse,  and  feed,  and  strengthen 
it,  till  it  goes  forth  from  the  hovels  of  the  poor  to 
the  halls  of  the  great,  conquering  and  to  conquer, 
with  terrible  and  disastrous  success.  It  is  a  taint 
in  the  air,  a  poison  of  universal  presence.  It  is 
diluted  at  present,  and  has  been  diluted  since 


60  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

1849,  but  it  is  not  spent ;  it  has  come  back 
with  concentrated  force  in  1853 ;  and  I  expect 
—  and  the  expectation  suggests  prayer,  as  the 
pious  man  says;  and  sanitary  movement,  as  the 
worldly  man  also  rightly  says — while  I  earnestly 
pray  my  expectation  may  be  proved  erroneous  — 
that  it  will  make  1854  one  of  the  most  deadly  and 
fatal  periods  in  the  roll  of  the  years  of  our  country, 
written  with  weeping,  and  lamentation,  and  woe. 
I  look  at  cholera  less  as  the  gift  of  God — more  as 
a  retribution  for  the  sins  and  misdoings  of  man- 
kind. We  should  learn  to  see  God  in  the  sunshine 
as  well  as  in  the  cloud.  After  cholera  has  struck 
down  twenty  or  thirty  in  St.  Giles's,  it  acquires 
strength,  and  visits  Belgrave-square ;  and  we  are 
grateful  to  God  that  it  is  so.  It  serves  to  teach  the 
rich  occupants,  that  the  sun  would  shine  as  brightly 
on  their  mansions,  if  the  shadows  did  not  fall  on 
such  hovels  near  them  —  no  class  of  society  must 
insulate  itself,  or  it  must  suffer.  That  poor  ragged 
child  in  St.  Giles's,  mother,  is  thy  child.  That 
poor  widow,  in  misery,  wretchedness  and  hunger, 
lady  of  rank  and  title,  is  thy  sister.  Do  you  say, 
Am  I  my  sister's  keeper?  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper?  Cain's  curse  will  be  branded  on  your 
brow,  and  Cain's  doom  and  wretchedness  wall 
necessarily  be  yours.  Medical  men  state,  that 
during  the  last  five  or  six  years  disease  is  less 
tractable  than  formerly,  and  that  trivial  ailments 
are  more  apt  to  end  in  fatal  diseases.  Earth  by 
its  sufferings  thus  responds  to  the  word  of  God. 


SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES.  61 

Facts  of  universal  occurrence,  phenomena  startling 
the  wide  world,  seem  to  assure  us  that  this  vial  has 
been  poured  into  the  air,  and  that  we  are  near  the 
winding  up  of  the  age. 

There  was  to  be  under  this  vial  a  great  earth- 
quake. I  believe  this,  if  of  literal  import,  is  yet 
to  come ;  but  that  part  of  the  Lord's  prophecy  of 
earthquakes  in  divers  places  has  been  literally  ful- 
filled.* In  England  and  on  the  Continent  there 
have  been  several  premonitory  convulsions;  and 
in  distant  countries  whole  cities  have  been  engulfed 
during  the  year  that  is  passed,  and  thousands  of 
their  inhabitants  buried  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth ; 
as. if  to  show  that  the  expansive  gaseous  forces  are 
mustering  their  elements  and  giving  instances  of 
their  force  preparatory  to  the  tremendous  shock 
which  rends  the  earth,  upheaves  capitals,  and  with 
a  voice  which  shall  sound  in  the  depths  of  men's 
hearts,  as  if  the  hour  of  doom  were  approaching, 
proclaim  an  epochal  hour.  Every  day  I  expect  to 
hear  the  rending  of  the  earth's  crust,  and  the  out- 
burst of  its  subterranean,  long  pent-up  elements, 
and  with  this  a  moral  convulsion  —  for  such  an 
earthquake  means  in  prophecy  —  that  will  shake 
society  to  its  centre.  It  is  absurd  in  wiseacres  to 
answer,  this  is  impossible.  It  is  predicted.  It  is 
certain.  All  you  can  fairly  question  or  dispute  is 
the  time,  not  the  fact.  If  you  will  look  at  the 
daily  papers   of  1848,  and  read  the  descriptions 

*  While  this  is  passing  through  the  press,  The  Times  calls 
attention  to  a  terrible  earthquake  in  Calabria. 
6 


62  SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES. 

they  gave  of  the  French  Eevolution  that  broke  out 
in  that  year,  the  first  throe  of  the  earthquake  as  a 
moral  convulsion,  you  ^vill  find  that  they  commonly 
employ  the  word  "  earthquake,"  —  "  that  unprece- 
dented earthquake;"  and,  singularly  enough,  the 
language  of  the  Apocalypse  (it  may  be,  never  read 
by  those  who  wrote  these  accounts)  is  their  favour- 
ite figure:  "that  great  earthquake,  such  as  was 
not  since  men  were  upon  the  earth."  Believers  in 
prophecy,  and  those  who  laugh  at  all  revelation, 
are  equally  expectant  of  new  and  startling  occur- 
rences. One  heave  of  this  predicted  convulsion 
has  thrown  down  the  walls  of  China,  and  revealed 
the  sublime  spectacle  of  some  hundred  millions  of 
people  emerging  into  the  grey  dawn  of  everlasting 
light. 

Under  this  Seventh  Vial,  also,  there  is  to  be  a 
great  fall  of  hailstones,  which  seems  to  indicate  an 
invasion  from  the  north.  The  leading  great  hail- 
stone is,  in  all  probability,  the  Czar  or  Autocrat  of 
all  the  Eussias.  That  gigantic  empire  seems,  from 
the  slight  and  incidental  reference  to  it  in  prophecy, 
destined  to  send  down  into  the  w^est  and  south  of 
Europe,  especially  the  Papal  States,  an  overwhelm- 
ing deluge  of  savage  barbarians,  as  God's  judgment 
on  the  guilty  nations  of  Europe,  leaving  what  was 
a  paradise  before,  as  a  desert  and  wilderness  of  de- 
solation behind.  These  awful  events  are  gathering 
in  the  distant  horizon.  The  stormy  East  will  soon 
startle  the  quiet  West,  and  the  treasures  of  hail 
accumulating  for  years  shall  sweep  society  itseU' 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.  63 

before  its  desolating  van.  Russia  is  destined  to 
play  a  mighty,  and  in  all  probability  a  terrible,  yet 
not  the  less  guilty  part,  in  the  last  act  of  the  world's 
drama ;  there  are  prophecies  in  Ezekiel  pointedly 
referring  to  this  portentous  empire,  to  which  I  beg 
the  reader's  attention. 

I  dare  not  say,  however,  that  every  sign  of  the 
age  is  sorrowful  and  sad.  I  see  tokens  beautiful 
and  big  with  promise;  I  can  see  strivings  that 
indicate  man's  hopes  and  expectancy  of  a  bright- 
ening day.  The  roll  of  prophecy  is  not  all  covered 
with  lamentation,  and  weeping,  and  woe.  I  see, 
in  the  multiplied  attempts  to  elevate  the  physical, 
moral,  and  social  condition  of  mankind,  results 
created  by  the  conscious  or  unconscious  anticipa- 
tion of  the  age  to  come.  What  a  beautiful  type 
of  the  coming  brotherhood  of  mankind  is  such  an 
association  as  that  of  the  "  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,"  having  no  basis  but  the  Bible,  no 
element  but  love,  no  password  but  Christ !  What 
is  the  great  temperance  movement  —  prosecuted 
with  an  energy  that  never  fails,  losing  daily  its  first 
rashness,  yet  nothing  of  its  first  zeal  —  but  a  pro- 
phetic efiTort  to  induce  men  soberly  to  weigh  their 
responsibilities,  and  watch  with  calmness  the  rush 
of  events  as  they  sweep  by,  and  so  make  ready  for 
the  coming  of  the  Lord  ?  What  is  the  great  social 
Sanitary  movement  but  an  evidence  of  man's  con- 
viction that  this  house  of  ours  will  one  day  be, 
what  we  would  rejoice  to  see  it  now,  swept  and 
garnished,  and  prepared  for  the  presence  of  the 


64  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES. 

Bride  awaiting  the  advent  of  the  Bridegroom? 
What  is  the  recent  extending  love  and  study  of 
Music,  becoming  every  day  as  common  as  the 
study  of  reading  and  writing,  but  the  tuning  of  the 
instruments  preparatory  to  the  anthem  peal,  "Hal- 
lelujah, the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth?'* 
What  are  those  rapidly  accumulating  discoveries 
—  science  shortening  distances,  annihilating  time, 
compressing  nations  into  parishes,  continents  into 
neighbours,  and  oceans  into  lakes — but  man's  aspi- 
ration after  the  dominion  which  he  held  and  lost 
in  Paradise — prophecies  of  success  not  to  be  gained 
by  him,  but  given  according  to  the  purposes  and 
promises  of  God  ?  With  all  this  there  is  a  restless- 
ness abroad  that  one  cannot  mistake.  There  is  a 
universal  sense  of  dissatisfaction — a  pervading  con- 
sciousness that  there  is  much  wrong  that  needs  to 
be  put  right  —  a  dim  recollection  of  departed  per- 
fection we  have  lost  —  a  strong  anticipation  of  the 
restoration  of  all  things.  How  restless  is  man  in 
every  department !  In  Politics,  to-day  it  is  Des- 
potism, to-morrow  it  is  Democracy;  one  year  a 
Republic,  another  year  an  Autocracy ;  but  no  more 
national  happiness  in  the  last  than  in  the  first.  To- 
day, Whigs  are  in  the  ascendant;  the  next  day, 
Tories  are  on  the  crest  of  the  wave ;  next  day,  a 
coalition  of  both  —  some  say,  with  the  excellences 
of  both ;  others,  with  the  excellences  of  neither. 
Yet  all  this  is  dealing  with  the  symptoms,  without 
touching  the  inner  seat  of  the  fever  of  humanity. 
In  the  Church,  during  one  decade  of  years  we 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  65 

hear  of  nothing  but  the  blessings  of  a  Church 
Establishment,  of  endowment,  of  royal  and  aristo- 
cratic patronage ;  in  another,  it  is  the  Voluntary 
system,  popular  election,  the  freedom  of  the  Clergy, 
and  the  independence  of  the  Church.  One  day. 
Ecclesiastical  Synods  are  announced  as  hot-beds 
of  agitation ;  another  day.  Convocations  are  im- 
plored and  advocated,  as  the  only  salvation  of  the 
Church.  Yet,  if  men  had  common  sense,  they 
would  see  that  it  is  not  new  machinery  that  we 
want,  but  a  new  spirit  to  inspire  the  old  machinery 
that  we  have. 

If  you  look  at  Medicine,  one  day  hydropathy 
carries  all  before  it  as  an  irresistible  wave;  the 
next  day  homoeopathy,  with  its  infinitesimal  doses, 
cures  all  diseases ;  then  mesmerism  displaces  both, 
and  everybody  rushes  to  be  mesmerised :  allopathy 
returns  again,  and  continues  till  some  new  crotchet 
takes  its  place.  It  is  not  a  new  theory  that  is 
wanted,  but  the  restoration  of  man's  health,  which 
is  promised  when  the  world  shall  close  as  the  world 
began,  in  Paradise. 

Turn  to  the  Commercial  world.  In  one  year 
thousands  are  embarking  their  capital  in  railroads 
too  Quixotic  ever  to  be  achieved;  in  the  next, 
copper  and  lead  mines  are  the  grand  attraction ; 
on  'Change  something  else;  while  at  present  the 
gold  in  California  and  Australia  absorbs  all  at- 
tention. 

Man  feels  there  is  something  wrong ;  he  is  con- 
scious of  inward  fever:  like  the  troubled  sea,  he 
6* 


66  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

feels  he  cannot  rest.  ISTever  was  humanity  so  much 
at  sea  as  at  this  moment.  It  nevertheless  is  a 
preparation  for  a  new  and  sure  denoitement ;  it  [q 
Is"aturc's  unconscious  cry,  "Come,  Lord  Jesus!" 
There  comes,  at  times,  a  calm  at  sea,  which  sailors 
call  breeding  weather,  at  the  end  of  which  there 
rushes  upon  the  ship  an  irresistible  typhoon.  The 
calm  since  1848  is  drawling  to  its  close.  The  fierce 
hurricane,  nursed  in  silence  and  in  secrecy,  begins 
to  howl  and  whistle  amid  the  national  shrouds; 
and  the  straining  and  pitching  of  the  ship  tells 
surely  its  force  is  on  her.  Make  all  tight;  stand 
every  man  at  his  post ;  lift  every  man  his  heart  to 
the  great  sea  Lord  and  land  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth ;  and  w^hen  the  waves  shall  rise  and  threaten 
like  wild  beasts  on  every  side,  and  the  fierce  wind 
shall  come  down  upon  us  like  an  avalanche  from 
the  mountain  tops,  we  will  not  be  afraid :  One  is 
in  the  ark  whom  the  winds  and  the  waves  obey ; 
not  one  of  the  redeemed  crew  shall  perish.  The 
frenzied  elements  shall  dash  against  the  true  Church 
as  the  terror-stricken  rain  flings  itself  in  a  winter 
night  against  the  window-panes,  imploring  shelter 
rather  than  inflicting  damage. 

Under  the  Seventh  Vial,  great  Babylon,  you 
may  remember,  comes  into  remembrance  before 
God.  That  is,  he  selects  her  for  her  final  judg- 
ments. She  is  now  at  the  beginning  of  her  sorrows. 
The  apparent  triumphs  and  ostentatious  boasts  of 
Rome  cannot  conceal  the  fulfilment  of  the  pro- 
phecy.    She  is  withering  down  to  her  very  roots 


SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES.  ^ 

in  every  part  of  the  earth;  her  real  vigour  and 
vitality  are  gone ;  she  is  more  and  more  recognised 
as  a  detected  imposture,  and  kept  up  as  a  piece  of 
the  pageantry  of  Europe,  not  as  a  power  that  makes 
nations  stand  in  awe,  or  kings  dread  its  opposition. 
In  one  country  she  is  plundered;  in  another  re- 
sisted ;  in  another  used  as  a  tool ;  and  detested  and 
despised  in  all.  Her  greatest  attempts  at  domina- 
tion have  ended  in  her  very  worst  defeats.  The 
spirit  that  was  in  her  when  Innocent  III.  was  pope 
still  animates  her,  hut  the  people  she  has  to  deal 
with  belong  to  another  age ;  and  there  is  a  book  in 
their  hands  that  casts  its  glory  upon  her  features, 
and  reveals  the  awful  image  of  the  wicked  one. 
Her  strength  is  in  secret ;  the  throne  of  her  power 
is  not  episcopal  or  cardinalatial,  but  the  confes- 
sional. The  moment  she  rises  from  being  a  secret 
underminer  to  take  the  place  of  an  open  assailant, 
she  parts  with  half  her  strength ;  she  is  shorn  of 
the  hair  in  which  her  strength  lies ;  and  she  will 
soon  have  to  grind  at  the  mill,  a  miserable  and 
wretched  drudge.  This  fatal  mistake  she  has  lately 
made  in  Holland,  England,  and  Southern  Germany. 
Her  present  politics  are  the  sign  of  her  dotage,  the 
evening  twilight  of  her  day.  "  Quern  Deus  vult 
perdere  prius  dementat.''  She  has  been  drinking 
of  the  cup  of  God's  indignation  bitterly  since  1848  ; 
and  she  will  drink  of  it  more  bitterly  in  the  years 
to  come.  We  may  be  chastened  as  a  nation  for 
our  tampering  with  her ;  but  our  country,  I  gather 


68  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

from  prophecy,  is,  I  think,  safe  for  mighty  purposes 
and  for  noble  ends. 

"  Thou,  too,  sail  on  !   0  ship  of  state, 
Sail  on  !   0  England,  strong  and  great. 
Humanity,  with  all  its  fears, 
And  all  its  hopes  of  future  years. 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate. 
We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel ; 
What  workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel ; 
Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope ; 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat ; 
In  what  a  forge,  and  what  a  heat, 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope. 
Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock, 
'Tis  of  the  waves,  not  of  the  rock ; 
'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail. 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale. 
In  spite  of  rock  and  tempests'  roar. 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore. 
Sail  on  !  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea  ; 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee ; 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith,  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee,  are  all  with  thee  \" 

Just  before  the  Church  of  Rome  perishes  in  a 
conflagration  of  righteous  wrath,  —  on  the  eve  of 
her  doom,  we  read  in  Rev.  xviii.  a  voice  sounds 
from  heaven  Hke  a  beautiful  strain,  "  Come  out  of 
her,  my  people,  that  ye  partake  not  of  her  sins,  and 
receive  not  of  her  plagues."  Whenever,  in  the 
great  Apocalyptic  drama,  a  voice  comes  from 
above,  there  are  heard  at  the  era  of  its  fulfilment 
the  responding  echoes  from  beneath.  There  is 
invariably  a  fact  on  earth  announcing  the  fulfilment 


SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES.  69 

of  the  word  from  heaven.  This  voice,  "  Come  out 
of  her,  my  people,"  has  been  heard  in  the  com- 
munes of  France,  and  among  the  green  valleys  of 
Languedoc,  and  increasing  thousands  of  French- 
men are  responding  in  their  own  beautiful  tongue, 
"Lord,  we  come,  we  come."  The  summons  has 
been  heard  around  the  palace  of  the  Grand  Duke, 
and  in  the  picture-galleries  of  Florence ;  and  innu- 
merable Madiais,  in  the  face  of  cruel  laws  and  im- 
prisonment, and  bondage  and  death,  are  answering 
with  right  joyous  hearts,  "We  come,  we  come." 
Under  the  shadow  of  St.  Peter's  and  near  the  In- 
quisition, where  free  thought  is  crime,  and  a  word 
of  truth  or  an  act  of  charity  an  evidence  of  it,  — 
above  the  silent  catacombs  of  the  ancient  dead, 
and  in  the  hearing  of  the  sacerdotal  hierarch  who 
sits  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  as  if  he 
were  God,  the  heavenly  summons  breaks  like  sweet 
music  from  Italian  skies,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my 
people ;"  and  neither  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican 
nor  the  anathema  of  its  tyrant  can  repress  the  an- 
swering accents  of  increasing  multitudes,  "Blessed 
Jesus,  we  come,  we  come !"  In  England  never 
was  the  Roman  Catholic  mind  so  accessible  as  it  is 
at  this  moment.  Vast  numbers,  from  the  premier 
Duke  of  England  and  Lord  Beaumont  down  to  the 
lowest  inhabitant  of  St.  Giles's,  are  emerging  from 
Babylon  under  a  new  and  blessed  attraction.  In 
*the  green  fields  of  Old  Ireland  the  joyous  sound 
rings  loud  and  clear,  reverberating  from  spire  to 
spire,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  people ;"  and  tens  of 


70  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

thousands  of  that  fine,  but  oppressed  and  injured 
race,  are  bursting  their  chains  in  every  direction, 
casting  their  images  and  idols  to  the  moles  and  the 
bats,  lifting  up  their  heads  under  the  irrepressible 
belief  that  their  redemption  draweth  nigh,  and 
shouting,  not  saying,  till  Eome  trembles  as  she 
hears  it,  '^Lord  Jesus,  we  come,  we  come !" 

"We  are  led  from  all  signs  to.  infer  that  the  meet- 
ing-place of  all  the  lines  of  God's  providential 
work  on  earth  is  very  near.  Paganism  is  breaking 
up  all  over  the  East.  Mahometanism  is  in  its  death 
struggle,  in  vain  attempting  to  avert,  its  waning. 
Popery  is  artificially  propped  up,  and  preparing  to 
take  its  exodus  to  eternal  night.  The  Ganges,  the 
Euphrates,  and  the  Tiber,  are  all  gleaming  with 
dawning  glories  of  a  nearing  day.  The  Jordan, 
too,  is  not  still ;  it  heaves  with  the  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations of  Judah,  Life  from  the  dead  is  reach- 
ing the  hearts  of  buried  nations,  and  they  rise  in 
rapid  succession  to  their  feet ;  they  only  wait  for 
the  order,  "Unloose,  and  let  go  free."  We  stand 
on  the  margin  of  two  ages;  we  hear  the  dying 
moan  of  one,  and  catch  from  afar  the  awakening 
anthem  of  the  other.  While  all  that  is  holy,  bene- 
ficent, and  true,  is  starting  to  its  feet,  all  that  is 
infidel,  superstitious,  and  evil,  under  the  prince  of 
the  power  of  the  air,  is  mustering  to  battle.  Satan 
puts  forth  gigantic  energies  —  fraud,  sophistry, 
cruelty,  oppression !  The  imprisonment  of  the 
Madiai,  and  Miss  Cunninghame,  and  others,  is 
proof  of  what  he  would  do  if  he  could.   The  deadly 


SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES.  71 

and  mischievous  errors  he  sows,  like  tares  in  a 
field,  are  proofs  of  his  attempts  to  poison  what  he 
cannot  persecute,  to  disturb  what  he  is  unable  to 
destroy.  The  allies  of  Pio  Nono  and  of  Voltaire 
will  yet  coalesce  against  Christianity,  in  order  to 
keep  back  a  swelling  tide  of  light  and  love,  which 
sweeps  them  from  an  earth  they  have  too  long 
polluted  by  their  presence. 

In  the  midst  of  this  let  me  add,  the  Church  and 
the  people  of  God  are  safe ;  they  are  enclosed  in 
everlasting  arms;  the  shield  of  Omnipotence  is 
over  them.  They  may  pass  through  a  sharp  night, 
but  it  will  be  a  short  one.  Oh,  what  a  solemn 
position  do  we  occupy  if  my  conclusions  be  right ! 
The  shadows  of  1854  fall  back  into  one  eternity 
and  forward  into  another.  "We  stand  on  an  isth- 
mus washed  by  the  waves  of  time  and  wasted  by 
the  waters  of  eternity.  The  terrible  silence  of  the 
age  is  the  suspensive  pause,  when  nations  hold 
their  breath  before  the  shock  comes.  The  sure  and 
glorious  termination  alone  reconciles  us  to  its  pres- 
sure. Into  a  holy,  and  happy,  and  blessed  land  the 
surf  of  the  troubled  present  rolls ;  and  our  weary 
hearts  will  leap  to  that  land  as  a  babe  leaps  to  its 
mother's  bosom. 

Are  we  among  the  saints  of  God  ?  It  is  time  to 
lay  aside  our  ecclesiastical  and  sectarian  quarrels. 
The  very  ground  on  which  we  stand  will  soon  be 
calcined  by  the  last  fire,  and  the  miserable  Shibbo- 
leths which  distract  Christendom  disappear  in 
smoke.     All  society  is  rending  into  two  great  divi- 


72  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

sions.  By  and  by  there  will  be  no  Jesuits,  no 
Ultramontanes,  no  Franciscans,  no  Tractarians, 
but  out-and-out  Papists.  By  and  by  there  will  be  no 
Churchmen,  no  Dissenters,  but  out-and-out  Chris- 
tians. All  society  is  splitting  into  two  great  antago- 
nistic masses :  every  man  is  taking  his  place ;  and 
those  whom  we  call,  in  courtesy,  Tractarians — who 
profess  to  hold  the  via  media^  neither  going  with 
us  nor  with  the  opposite  side — will  find  themselves 
like  men  between  two  advancing  armies,  over- 
whelmed by  the  fire  of  both.  I  say,  society  is 
splitting  into  two  great  masses.  To  which  do  we 
belong  ?  To  Christ  —  that  is,  the  Church  of  the 
living  God ;  or  to  Antichrist  —  that  is,  the  great 
Apostasy?  Oh,  let  us  not  quarrel  about  lesser 
things !  There  is  love  enough  on  Calvary  to  lift 
the  earth  to  heaven ;  there  is  light  enough  at  Pen- 
tecost to  irradiate  the  wide  world ;  there  is  warmth 
enough  on  the  hearthstone  of  our  Father's  house 
to  make  every  heart  glow  with  ecstasy  and  thank- 
fulness! Let  us  rather  quench  than  kindle  the 
fires  of  passion.  Let  us  pray  that  the  temperature 
of  our  Christian  life  may  be  so  raised,  that  we 
shall  neither  see  nor  feel  the  petty  scintillations  of 
angry  quarrels. 

"  Between  us  all  let  oceans  roll ; 
Yet  still,  from  either  beach 
The  voice  of  blood  shall  reach, 
More  audible  than  speech  — 
*  We  are  one  V^ 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  all  the  great  times  and 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.  73 

dates  of  prophecy  meet  and  mingle  about  the  year 
1864.  I  do  not  say  that  that  year  will  be  the  close 
of  this  worJd.  I  do  not  prophesy  ;  I  do  not  fore- 
tell the  future ;  I  only  forth  tell  what  God  has  said ; 
but  I  do  feel,  that  if  1864  be  not  the  close  of  the 
age  that  now  is,  and  the  commencement  of  a  better 
one,  it  will  be  a  time  unprecedented  since  the 
beginning  —  portentous,  startling,  and  terrible  to 
the  enemies  of  God;  but  glorious,nioly,  and  full 
of  joyous  scenes  to  the  people  of  God. 

Clinton  proves  that  the  seventh  millenary  of  the 
world  begins  in  1863.  The  Jews  of  ancient  and 
modern  times  all  look  to  the  beginning  of  the 
seven  thousand  years  for  their  Sabbatismos,  or  millen- 
nial rest.     Is  the  end  of  the  age  so  near  ?  — 

"  The  groans  of  nature  in  this  nether  world, 
Which  heaven  has  heard  for  ages,  have  an  end 
Foretold  by  prophets,  and  by  poets  sung ; 
The  time  of  rest,  the  promised  sabbath  comes. 
Six  thousand  years  of  sorrow  have  well  nigh 
Fulfiird  their  tardy  and  disastrous  course 
Over  a  sinful  world ;  and  what  remains 
Of  this  tempestuous  state  of  human  things 
Is  merely  as  the  working  of  a  sea 
Before  a  calm  that  rocks  itself  to  rest." 

Thus  all  fingers  point  to  this  rapidly  approaching 
crisis.  All  things  indicate  that  the  moment  that 
we  occupy  is  charged  with  intense  and  inexhaust- 
ible issues.  IN'ever  was  man  so  responsible ! 
Never,  in  the  prospect  of  what  is  coming  on  the 
earth,  was  man's  position  so  solemn  I  But  evil 
shall  not  gain  the  day.      Truth  and  love  will 


74  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

emerge  from  every  conflict,  beautiful,  and  clothed 
with  victory.  The  days  of  Infidelity  and  Popery 
are  numbered.  The  waters  of  evil  must  soon  ebb 
from  the  earth  they  have  soiled.  The  approaching 
genesis  will  surpass  in  beauty  and  in  glory  the  old. 
The  Church  of  Christ  will  lay  aside  her  soiled  gar- 
ments, her  ashen  raiment,  and  put  on  her  bridal 
dress,  her  coronation  robes ;  and  the  nations  will 
look  up  to  her  in  admiration,  earnest  as  the  waves 
of  the  ocean  rise  up  to  the  bright  full  moon  en- 
throned above  them.  The  sunrise  of  approaching 
day  will  strike  the  earth,  and  awaken  its  long 
Bilent  hymns,  and  clothe  creation's  barest  branches 
with  amaranthine  blossoms.  Poor  IlTature,  that 
has  so  long  moaned  like  a  stricken  creature  to  its 
God  from  its  solitary  lair,  shall  cease  her  groans 
and  travail  and  expectancy;  for  God  will  wipe 
away  her  tears,  and  on  her  fair  and  beautiful  and 
holy  brow,  crowned  and  kingdomed,  other  orbs  in 
the  sky,  her  handmaidens,  will  gaze  in  ecstasy  and 
thankfulness  and  praise.  "  And  God  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and  there  shall  be 
no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying ;  neither 
shall  there  be  any  more  pain.  And  there  shall  be 
no  night  there.  For  these  sayings  are  faithful  and 
true." 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  75 


n. 


THE   MOSLEM  AND  HIS   END. 

In  introducing  to  the  reader  the  Moslem  and  his 
fate,  I  do  not  pretend  to  prophesy,  hut  simply  to 
set  forth  what  seems,  on  grounds  of  the  very  highest 
probability,  to  be  the  meaning  of  prophecy  inspired 
by  God,  and  written  for  our  instruction.  I  do  not 
attempt  to  foretell;  all  I  presume  is,  to  forth  tell 
what  is  already  predicted  in  the  sacred  volume.  I 
am  a  humble  interpreter  of  what  God  has  written, 
not  a  prophet  of  what  God  will  do.  I  speak  to 
reasonable  men ;  I  ask  attention,  not  submission. 

The  application  of  Scripture  to  the  events  of  the 
day  demands  the  utmost  carefulness.  We  must 
take  care  to  avoid  that  presumption,  which  sees 
the  fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  things  in  no  just  re- 
spect the  echoes  of  ancient  predictions ;  and  equally 
also  that  incredulity,  or  rather  scepticism,  which 
regards  the  word  of  God  as  in  no  degree  applicable 
to  the  affaire  of  men.  I  believe  history  is  a  con- 
tinuous fulfilment  of  prophecy ;  its  facts  the  marks 
of  Providence  translating  the  written  into  the 
actual  —  ancient  texts  into  modern  annals.  God 
inspired  the  prophet.  He  rules  in  the  affairs  of 
men,  when  all  past  utterances  shall  be  seen  embo- 
died in  present  facts,  and  all  history  point  back- 


76  SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES. 

ward  to  its  outline,  laid  down  in  Scripture  long 
before  its  materials  were  found.  Gibbon  the  sceptic, 
and  Hume  the  atheist,  and  Alison  the  Christian, 
and  Macaulay,  and  innumerable  others,  will  ap- 
pear, reluctantly  or  the  reverse,  the  most  emphatic 
witnesses  to  God  in  his  w^ord  and  in  his  world. 
Every  day  this  result  approaches  us;  more  and 
more  does  Scripture  shine  forth  in  deepening  lustre 
and  beauty. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  important  to  remark, 
that,  on  the  great  truths  of  Christianity,  all  true 
Christians  of  every  persuasion  are  at  one ;  on  the 
interpretation  of  prophecy,  it  is  fair  to  state,  they 
conscientiously  differ.  Yet,  in  this  field  there  is  a 
deepening  agreement  among  most.  Differ  from 
me  or  any  other  Christian  as  such,  on  that  which 
is  vital  and  essential,  and  you  so  far  denude  your- 
selves of  the  claims  of  Christians ;  but  should  the 
reader  differ  from  me  on  the  interpretation  of  pro- 
phecy, and  what  appears  to  me  most  probable,  I 
hope,  in  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love  and  of  Christian 
charity,  we  shall  forgive  our  differences  in  things 
confessedly  difficult,  and  sometimes  obscure,  be- 
cause of  our  harmony  in  magnificent  and  glorious 
things,  which  are  so  plain  that  a  wayfaring  man 
may  not  err  therein. 

The  subject  I  propose  to  examine  here  is  Turkey 
and  Mahometanism,  or  the  Moslem  and  his  end. 
The  subject  is,  in  the  present  crisis  of  Europe, 
fraught  with  the  intensest  interest.  It  absorbs 
many  thoughts :  all  eyes  are  directed  to  the  sun- 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  77 

rising.  Every  newspaper  reflects  on  the  West  the 
startling  lights  that  are  breaking  forth  in  the  East. 
Every  clay's  post  is  anxiously  expected.  The  Cres- 
cent is  occupying  the  thoughts,  the  hopes,  the 
sympathies,  and  even  provoking  the  sorrows  and 
the  griefs  of  the  best,  the  most  civilized  and  Chris- 
tian of  the  human  family.  The  Koran  has  played 
so  startling  a  part  in  the  great  drama  of  the  past, 
that  we  naturally  and  anxiously  inquire  what  place 
it  is  to  occupy  in  the  looming  prospects  of  the 
future.  I  am  here,  not  to  guess  or  to  calculate 
politically,  but  to  interpret,  as  I  may  be  able,  in- 
spired prophecy. 

The  two  great  prophecies  to  which  I  would  direct 
attention,  are  contained  in  the  Book  of  Daniel, 
and  in  the  Book  of  Revelation.  These  writings 
of  Daniel  and  St.  John  are  as  descriptive  of  things 
future,  as  Genesis  and  Exodus  of  things  past. 
They  are  given  to  be  read,  and  why  not  to  be  un- 
derstood ? 

The  first  one  is  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Book 
of  Daniel,  where  we  read  the  interpretation  of  what 
the  seer  saw.  It  says,  —  "The  ram  which  thou 
sawest  having  two  horns  are  the  kings  of  Media 
and  Persia:  and  the  rough  goat  is  the  king  of 
Grecia:  and  the  great  horn  that  is  between  his 
eyes  is  the  first  king.  Now  that  being  broken, 
whereas  four  stood  up  for  it,  four  kingdoms  shall 
stand  up  out  of  the  nation,  but  not  in  his  power. 
And  in  the  latter  time  of  their  kingdom,  when  the 
transgressors  are  come  to  the  full,  a  king  of  fierce 
7* 


78  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

countenance,  and  understanding  dark  sentences, 
•shall  stand  up.  And  his  power  shall  be  mighty, 
but  not  by  his  own  power :  and  he  shall  destroy 
wonderfully,  and  shall  prosper,  and  practise,  and 
shall  destroy  the  mighty  and  the  holy  people.  And 
through  his  policy  also  he  shall  cause  craft  to  pros- 
per in  his  hand ;  and  he  shall  magnify  himself  in 
his  heart,  and  by  peace  shall  destroy  many:  he 
shall  also  stand  up  against  the  Prince  of  princes ; 
but  he  shall  be  broken  without  hand."  (Dan.  viii. 
20-25.) 

I  do  not  waste  your  time  by  establishing  and 
identifying  every  symbol  in  the  passage.  I  assume 
that  the  identification  of  Bishop  iJ^ewton,  of  Elliot 
and  Mede,  and  many  other  distinguished  interpre- 
ters of  prophecy,  is  correct.  Indeed,  I  have  no 
doubt  of  it.  First,  the  ram  is  represented  and 
proved  by  them  to  be  the  Persian  power.  The  two 
horns  are  two  dynastic  branches,  or  the  Median 
and  Persian  kingdoms,  shooting  from  one  head, 
or  grafted  into  the  one  great  national  power.  For 
fifty  or  sixty  years, — that  is,  from  the  accession  of 
Cyrus  to  the  Greek  expedition  under  Xerxes, — no 
national  powder,  westward,  northward,  or  south- 
ward, was  able  to  stand  before  it.  This  is  the 
literal  history  of  the  progress,  the  triumphs,  and 
successes  of  the  Medo-Persian  kingdom.  The  goat 
that  appears  in  the  fifth  verse,  as  Macedonian  coins 
still  testify,  was  the  Macedonian  power.  The 
notable  horn  —  the  remarkable  or  illustrious  horn 
between  the  eyes — has  been  identified  successfully 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  79 

as  Alexander  the  Great,  who,  in  the  language  of 
verses  6  and  7,  rushed  against  the  ram,  broke  his 
horns,  or  destroyed  the  Persian  kingdom,  added 
the  empire  to  his  own,  and  so  swelled  his  imperial 
supremacy  to  the  highest  possible  pitch,  and  be- 
came politically  "  notable." 

This  great  or  notable  horn  broke  down  in  its 
meridian  :  that  is,  Alexander  the  Great  died  in  his 
prime,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  victories,  a  melan- 
choly proof  that  victory  is  vanity.  The  four  horns 
that  succeeded  on  the  division  of  the  empire,  were 
the  four  Macedonian  kingdoms,  formed  under  the 
four  generals  of  Alexander,  after  the  battle  of  Issus. 
These  are  the  outlines  of  the  passage  I  have  read, 
nistorical  facts  thus  fill  up  prophetic  outlines. 

The  subject  that  specially  concerns  me  in  this 
investigation  is  the  rise,  locality  and  date,  of  what 
is  here  called  "the  little  horn,"  described  by  the 
prophet  in  the  most  graphic  terms.  It  was,  I  con- 
ceive, the  representative  of  the  Turkish  and  Maho- 
metan power.  First,  it  springs  out  of  one  of  the 
four  Macedonian  kingdoms  at  its  close.  Secondly, 
the  character  of  its  chief  is,  "a  king  of  fierce 
countenance,  disclosing  dark  sentences,"  or  a  mili- 
tary prophet  propagating  strange  or  portentous 
revelations.  Thirdly,  his  success,  that  he  should 
wax  exceeding  great  to'Vvards  the  south,  the  east, 
and  the  glory,  or  Jerusalem,  used  here  in  all  like- 
lihood to  represent  the  professing  Christian  Church. 
Fourthly,  the  effects  of  his  progress  shall  be,  that 
he  shall  cast  truth  to  the  ground,  cause  craft  to 


80  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES 

prosper,  take  away  the  daily  sacrifice,  and  cast 
down  the  place  of  Jehovah's  sanctuary,  that  is, 
depress  Christendom.  Fifthly,  he  shall  stamp  upon 
the  mighty  ones,  or  secular  powers ;  and  the  reason 
of  his  judging  them  or  visiting  them  in  his  wrath 
is  their  apostasy,  or  the  standing  up  against  "  the , 
Prince  of  princes,"  that  is,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ; 
and  at  the  end  of  2300  years,  according  to  the 
prophecy  of  this  book,  the  sanctuary  shall  begin 
to  be  cleansed,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  sixteenth 
chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  Euphratean  flood, 
as  I  shall  show  you  by  and  by,  will  begin  to  retire, 
or  to  evaporate  and  cease. 

Having  thus  briefly  given  the  outline  of  the  pro- 
phetical record,  let  me  now  identify  its  features  by 
stating  the  historical  fulfilment  of  it,  as  attested  in 
the  annals  of  Asia  and  Europe.  The  Turkish 
power  arose  east  of  the  Oxus,  in  Chorassan,  a  ter- 
ritory of  the  Cyro-Macedonian  horn  or  kingdom. 
At  that  time  a  Turkman  tribe  revolted  against  the 
Sultan  of  Ghizni,  elected  Toghrul  Beg  for  its  chief, 
and  asserted  for  itself  the  dignity,  the  position,  and 
the  prestige  of  a  ruling  power,  though  compara- 
tively then  a  "  a  little  one."  Toghrul  was  invited 
by  the  caliph  at  Bagdad  to  help  him  against  Persia. 
The  Turkman  chief  obeyed  the  request,  and  in  the 
language  of  the  prophec5^,  advanced  southward. 
Toghrul  was  next  raised  to  the  dignity  of  chief 
general  of  Islam ;  afterwards  he  married  the 
caliph's  daughter,  and  so  became  the  powerful  and 
fanatical  missionary   of   Mahometanism  through 


AND  HIS  END.  81 

eastern  lands,  and  Greek  Christendom;  and  not 
onlj  Judea,  but  Asiatic  Christendom,  was  gradually 
subdued  by  him.  Gibbon,  the  best  commentator 
upon  past  prophecy,  as  a  daily  newspaper  is  the 
best  commentator  upon  existing  and  fulfilling  pro- 
phecy, thus  describes  the  victorious  progress  of  this 
Turkman  chief,  in  words  almost  the  very  echoes 
of  Daniel's  prophecy: — "From  the  Chinese  frontier 
in  the  east,  he  stretched  his  immediate  jurisdiction 
to  the  west  and  south,  as  far  as  the  neighbourhood 
of  Constantinople,  the  holy  city  of  Jerusalem,  and 
the  spicy  groves  of  Arabia  Felix ;"  or,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  prophecy,  of  which  Gibbon  was  the  un- 
conscious expounder,  he  "  waxed  exceeding  great 
toward  the  east,  and  toward  the  south,  and  toward 
the  glory."  Daniel  says,  he  w^axed  great  to  the  host 
of  heaven,  cast  the  stars  down  and  stamped  upon 
them ;  and  the  daily  sacrifice  was  taken  away,  and 
the  place  of  the  Lord's  sanctuary  was  cast  down. 
Gibbon  thus  describes  the  Turkish  progress :  — 
**  By  the  choice  of  the  Sultan,  Nice  was  preferred 
for  his  palace,  and  the  divinity  of  Christ  was  denied 
and  derided  in  the  same  temple  in  which  it  had 
been  first  pronounced  by  the  first  synod  of  Chris- 
tendom. On  the  hard  conditions  of  tribute  and 
servitude,  the  Greek  -Christians  might  enjoy  the 
exercise  of  their  religion;  but  their  most  holy 
temples  were  profaned,  and  their  priests  and  bishops 
were  insulted."  The  idolatry  and  apostasy  of  its 
professors  having  come  to  the  full,  in  the  language 
of  Daniel,  they  were  thus  punished  by  the  scourge, 


82  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

sent  forth  in  the  providence  of  God  to  chasten  the 
apostate  and  the  guilty  nations  of  Christendom. 
The  "dark  sentences"  of  Daniel  are  thus  trans- 
lated by  Gibbon,  though  unconscious  that  Daniel 
had  so  written :  —  "  The  Koran  is  full  of  endless, 
incoherent  rhapsody  and  fable,  sometimes  crawling 
in  the  dust,  at  other  times  lost  in  the  clouds."  The 
fierce  countenance  of  this  predicted  king,  which  is 
the  picture  of  Daniel,  is  described  by  Gibbon,  w^hen 
he  uses  the  expressien  in  his  magnificent  History, 
"  He  was  fierce  as  a  Turk."  "  The  Turks  breathed 
still  all  the  fierceness  of  the  desert."  The  fierce- 
ness of  the  Turk  became  at  last  a  proverbial  ex- 
pression throughout  Christendom.  The  angel  in 
the  prophecy  asks  how  long  this  absolute  eastern 
domination  shall  last,  and  the  answer  given,  as  I 
have  stated,  is  2300  years.  The  first  question  is, 
"What  is  the  date  of  the  commencement  of  that 
epoch?  It  cannot  be  previous  to  the  year  536 
before  Christ,  because  then  the  two-horned  king- 
dom was  in  existence.  It  cannot  be  after  the  defeat 
of  Xerxes  in  the  year  480  before  Christ,  for  then 
the  chief  glory  of  the  Persian  empire  w^as  gone ; 
but  in  480  before  Christ,  immediately  previous  to 
the  last  catastrophe  of  the  Persian  empire,  Xerxes 
made  his  triumphant  march  into  Macedon  and 
Greece,  and  thus  the  tide  of  its  glory  was  at  its 
full,  just  before  its  ebbing.  Dating,  therefore,  the 
2300  years  at  that  period,  the  Crescent,  if  the  date 
be  correct,  should  begin  to  wane  in  A.  d.  1820 ;  the 
Euphratean  flood  should  then  begin  to  evaporate, 


83 

and  Turkey  not  be  extinguished  at  a  blow,  but 
decline  and  die  of  gradual  decrepitude,  exhaustion, 
and  decay.  By  and  by  I  will  show  you  how  lite- 
rally this  has  been  fulfilled. 

Having  seen  the  picture  of  Daniel,  let  me  show 
you,  for  the  sake  of  giving  the  full  history,  another 
portrait,  by  an  equally  inspired  penman,  namely 
St.  John,  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse. 
He  says :  "  The  fifth  angel  sounded,  and  I  saw  a 
star  fall  from  heaven  unto  the  earth :  and  to  him 
was  given  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit.  And  he 
opened  the  bottomless  pit ;  and  there  arose  a  smoke 
out  of  the  pit,  as  the  smoke  of  a  great  furnace ;  and 
the  sun  and  the  air  were  darkened  by  reason  of  the 
smoke  of  the  pit.  And  there  came  out  of  the 
smoke  locusts  upon  the  earth :  and  unto  them  was 
given  power,  as  the  scorpions  of  the  earth  have 
power.  And  it  was  commanded  them  that  they 
should  not  hurt  the  grass  of  the  earth,  neither  any 
green  thing,  neither  any  tree ;  but  only  those  men 
which  have  not  the  seal  of  God  in  their  foreheads. 
And  to  them  it  was  given  that  they  should  not  kill 
them,  but  that  they  should  be  tormented  Rye 
months:  and  their  torment  was  as  the  torment  of 
a  scorpion,  when  he  striketh  a  man.  And  in  those 
days  shall  men  seek  death,  and  shall  not  find  it ; 
and  shall  desire  to  die,  and  death  shall  flee  from 
them.  And  the  shapes  of  the  locusts  were  like 
unto  horses  prepared  unto  battle;  and  on  their 
heads  were  as  it  were  crowns  like  gold,  and  their 
faces  were  as  the  faces  of  men.    And  they  had 


84  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

hair  as  the  hair  of  women,  and  their  teeth  were  as 
the  teeth  of  Hons.  And  they  had  breastplates,  as 
it  were  breastplates  of  iron ;  and  the  sound  of  their 
wings  was  as  the  sound  of  chariots  of  many  horses 
running  to  battle.  And  they  had  tails  like  unto 
scorpions,  and  there  were  stings  in  their  tails :  and 
their  power  was  to  hurt  men  ^ve  months.  And 
they  had  a  king  over  them,  which  is  the  angel  of 
the  bottomless  pit,  whose  name  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue  is  Abaddon."  That  is  one  class.  Then, 
secondly,  he  describes  another:  "And  the  sixth 
angel  sounded,  and  I  heard  a  voice  from  the  four 
horns  of  the  golden  altar  which  is  before  God, 
saying  to  the  sixth  angel  which  had  the  trumpet. 
Loose  the  four  angels  which  are  bound  in  the  great 
river  Euphrates.  And  the  four  angels  were  loosed, 
which  were  prepared  for  an  hour,  and  a  day,  and  a 
month,  and  a  year,  for  to  slay  the  third  part  of  men. 
And  the  number  of  the  army  of  the  horsemen  were 
two  hundred  thousand  thousand :  and  I  heard  the 
number  of  them.  And  thus  I  saw  the  horses  in 
the  vision,  and  them  that  sat  on  them,  having 
breastplates  of  fire,  and  of  jacinth,  and  brimstone: 
and  the  heads  of  the  horses  were  as  the  heads  of 
lions;  and  out  of  their  mouths  issued  fire  and 
smoke  and  brimstone.  By  these  three  was  the 
third  part  of  men  killed,  by  the  fire,  and  by  the 
smoke,  and  by  the  brimstone,  which  issued  out  of 
their  mouths.  For  their  power  is  in  their  mouth, 
and  in  their  tails:  for  their  tails  were  like  unto 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  85 

serpents,  and  had  heads,  and  with  them  they  do 
hurt."— Rev.  ix.  1—19. 

Now,  first  of  all,  in  the  chapter  I  have  read 
we  have  the  originator,  or  chief  inventor  or  letter- 
loose  of  that  smoke  which  darkened,  soon  after 
that  date,  the  whole  eastern  part  of  Christendom. 
Secondly,  we  have  the  Saracen  propagandists  of 
Mahometan  delusion,  who  carried  their  propagan- 
dism  up  to  a  point  hmited  in  this  chapter  by  the 
express  declaration  of  the  inspired  penman,  and 
confirmed,  as  we  shall  see,  by  facts.  We  have  next 
the  Turks,  who  took  up  the  propagandism  of  Ma- 
hometanism  at  Bagdad  on  the  Euphrates,  where 
the  Saracens  paused,  and  carried  it  onwards 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  Asia  and  of 
Europe,  till  the  victorious  Crescent  stood  over  the 
ruins  of  the  mistress  of  the  East,  the  noble  and 
beautiful  Constantinople. 

Let  us,  then,  see  how  exactly  all  this  has  been 
fulfilled  in  history.  First,  we  have  the  great  chief 
or  originator  of  the  system  likened  unto  a  fallen 
star.  Both  Bishop  Newton  and  Mr.  Elliot,  and 
the  best  commentators  on  prophecy,  admit  that 
this  refers  to  Mahomet ;  and  the  proof  of  it  is  not 
a  conjecture,  but  the  perfect  parallelism  between 
it  and  the  man's  biography  and  the  historic  records 
of  modern  Europe.  A  firmamental  star  denotes  a 
ruler,  secular  or  ecclesiastical ;  a  fallen  firmamental 
star,  a  ruler  degraded,  degenerate,  or  deposed. 
Mahomet  was  of  the  royal  house  of  Koreish,  the 
governors  of  Caaba,  who  had  its  key  as  represen- 
8 


86  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

tative  of  paganism.  At  tlie  death  of  his  father, 
Mahomet  was  left  a  destitute  orphan ;  he  fell  from 
dignity  to  the  earth ;  he  had  royal  lineage,  ancient, 
but  now  lost,  greatness,  and  was  reduced  in  the 
providence  of  God  to  the  lowest  level.  He  was  a 
star  once  resplendent  in  the  firmament;  in  the 
meridian  of  rule  he  fell,  and  sunk,  in  the  language 
of  Gibbon,  to  become  the  humble  servant  of  a 
humble  and  a  poor  widow.  In  other  words,  he 
lost  the  key  of  the  Caaba,  and  the  dignities  of  its 
tenure,  originally  entrusted  to  his  family  in  former 
days,  and  he  became  the  menial  servant  of  a  poor 
widow,  for  whom  he  transacted  business  in  the 
markets  and  in  the  chief  places  of  merchandise  in 
Damascus.  Three  miles  from  Mecca  there  was  a 
cave  (Heira),  into  which  Mahomet,  as  the  menial 
servant  of  this  widow,  was  in  the  habit  of  retiring ; 
and,  in  the  language  of  Gibbon,  in  that  cave  "he 
held  communion  with  the  spirit  of  fraud  and  fana- 
ticism," and  from  the  pit,  of  which  this  cave  was 
the  meet  type,  he  ultimately  emerged,  professing 
to  be  the  great  missionary  of  God,  the  chief  reci- 
pient and  proclaimer  of  his  will  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  Asia  and  of  Eastern  Europe. 
The  chief  persons  in  Mecca,  the  moment  that  he 
publicly  assumed  the  dignity  of  an  apostle,  de- 
nounced him  as  a  pretender,  and  he  was  expelled 
from  the  city ;  and  that  expulsion  of  Mahomet  from 
'  the  city  is  the  date  of  Mahometan  chronology,  or 
the  period  called  the  Hegira,  from  which  they  date 


AND   HIS   END.  87 

their  years,  as  we  do  from  the  ChristiaQ  era,  or 
birth  of  our  Redeemer, 

"After  an  exile  of  seven  years,"  says  Gibbon, 
"  the  fugitive  was  enthroned,  the  prince  and  pro- 
phet of  his  native  country ;  the  injustice  of  Mecca 
transformed  the  citizen  of  Ileira  into  the  prince, 
the  preacher,  and  the  leader  of  the  armies  of  his 
country." 

In  the  passage  I  have  read,  it  is  said  a  key  w^as 
given  him.  The  accuracy  of  Apocalyptic  symbols 
is  most  remarkable.  In  the  Koran  it  is  said,  Ma- 
homet received  the  key  of  God.  The  Koran  says, 
"  With  the  key  did  not  God  give  him  the  title  and 
power  of  a  porter  to  open  the  gates  of  a  paradise  ?'* 
And  a  form  of  renunciation  of  a  Mahometan  in  the 
Greek  Church  is  still  preserved,  in  which  these 
words  occur :  "  I  anathematize  the  teaching  of  Ma- 
homet, who,  they  say,  has  the  key  of  paradise." 
And  on  the  central  stone  of  the  arch  of  the  court 
of  justice  of  the  Alhambra  there  is  at  this  moment 
in  alto-relievo  a  large  key,  as  the  great  symbol  of 
the  Mahometan  jurisdiction ;  so  much  so  that  the 
key  spoken  of  iu  this  chapter  as  given  to  the  fallen 
ruler,  is  to  a  Mahometan  very  much  what  the  cross 
is  to  a  Christian.  And  thus  Mahomet,  having  lost 
the  key  of  the  pagan  Caaba,  which  his  forefathers 
had,  —  that  is,  having  lost  princely  authority  and 
jurisdiction  there,  —  emerged  from  the  abyss,  hav- 
ing held  communion,  as  Gibbon  says,  with  the 
spirit  of  fraud  and  fanaticism,  imbued  with  a  spirit 
of  fiery  propagandism,  and  let  loose  over  the  length 


88  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

and  breadth  of  Asia  that  smoke  which  darkens 
mighty  masses  of  the  Eastern  nations  unto  this 
day. 

Having  seen  the  first  originator,  let  me  look  at 
the  first  propagandist  missionaries  of  that  smoke 
which  he  let  loose  from  the  abyss.  The  Saracens 
were  the  first,  the  Turks  w^ere  the  next.  I  may  just 
remark,  that  the  former  call  themselves  Saracens. 
The  Arabs  profess  to  be  the  descendants  of  Sara ; 
hence  they  call  themselves  Saracens,  because  they 
are  ashamed  to  admit  that  they  are  Ishmaelites,  or 
the  descendants  of  Hagar.  They  ought  properly 
to  be  called  Hagarenes,  as  the  descendants  of  Ha- 
gar ;  but  professing  to  be  the  descendants  of  Sara, 
the  princess,  they  call  themselves,  as  a  term  of 
dignity  and  honour,  Saracens.  The  first  propa- 
gandists of  this  delusion  were  the  Saracens;  and 
they  and  their  progress  are  depicted  in  symbolic 
language,  according  to  prophetic  usage,  which  I 
think  can  be  identified  with  them  and  their  history. 
The  locusts,  a  very  composite  and  clearly  symbolic 
creature,  described  in  verses  3,  7,  and  10  of  the 
ninth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  are  the  represen- 
tatives of  these  missionaries. 

Let  us  see  the  force  of  this  by  examining  what 
the  symbol  denotes.  A  fig-tree  is  a  symbol  of 
Judea ;  a  crocodile,  of  Egypt ;  a  willow,  of  Baby- 
lon ;  a  wild  ass,  of  Ishmael ;  and  a  ship,  of  Tyre. 
But  what  is  the  locust  a  symbol  of?  It  is  a  com- 
posite one,  and  must  denote  a  being  composite, 
and  not  a  natural,  literal,  living  animal.    It  must 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND  HIS   END.  89 

denote  some  great  moral  feature  embodied  in  those 
whom  it  represents.  JN'ow,  the  locust,  first,  appears 
in  swarms,  an  idea  almost  inseparably  connected 
with  it.  Secondly,  its  horse-like  aspect  denotes 
that  the  invading  swarms  should  in  some  shape  be 
associated  with,  or  mainly  consist  of,  cavalry. 
Thirdly,  the  lion-likeness  denotes  resistless  fero- 
city. And,  lastly,  the  scorpion-sting  expresses  the 
torment  they  should  inflict  and  leave  behind  them. 
The  birth-place  of  these  locust  propagandists  must 
be  the  East ;  we  read  in  Exodus,  "  the  east-wind 
brought  locusts"  into  Egj'pt  Volney  says,  "  The 
locusts  come  from  the  deserts  of  Arabia;"  and 
Arhe,  the  Hebrew  for  an  Arab,  is  almost  the  same 
as  arha^  the  Hebrew  for  a  locust.  Hence,  as  in 
Judges  vi.  5,  "  they  come  as  arba,  or  locusts.'*  The 
scorpion,  in  the  next  place,  is  always  traced  in 
Scripture  to  Arabia.  Moses  says,  "  the  wilderness, 
where  fiery  serpents  and  scorpions  are."  The 
horse,  I  need  not  say,  is  popularly  an  Arab  symbol. 
Arabia  is  his  home.  AVe  read  of  the  Arab  steed, 
as  the  model  of  a  horse.  The  whole  zoology  of 
the  symbol  is  strictly  Arab.  But  superadded  to 
the  symbol  is  this  remarkable  fact,  that  they  had 
the  faces  of  men,  the  long  hair  of  women,  crowns 
on  their  heads,  and  breastplates  of  iron ;  or,  trans- 
lated into  literal  language,  the  courage  of  men, 
the  effeminacy  of  women,  invulnerability  and 
triumph  in  battle.  These  were  not,  I  observe,  the 
Goths,  because  the  Goths  had  not  the  faces  of 
men ;  they  shaved  off  the  moustache,  and  were 
8* 


90  SIGNS   OP   THE   TIMES. 

charged  by  Eastern  nations  with  having  effeminate 
faces.  They  were  not,  in  the  next  place,  the  Greeks 
and  Komans ;  for  long  hair,  another  part  of  the 
symbol,  was  an  abomination  to  them.  Pliny  spe- 
cifies the  Arabs  as  wearing  the  moustache  on  the 
upper  lip,  as  having  the  long  hair  like  women,  and 
having  turbans  like  crowns ;  and  in  the  Antar,  a 
celebrated  Arabic  poem,  it  is  said  God  has  be- 
stowed upon  Arabs  four  heavenly  gifts — 

*'  Turbans  for  diadems,  tents  for  walls, 
Swords  for  entrenchments,  and  poems  for  laws." 

The  Koran  specifies  the  breastplate  of  the  Arab  as 
the  gift  of  God.  The  locust  is  the  national  emblem 
of  the  Ishmaelite,  or  Arab ;  and  it  is  related  by 
Turkish  writers,  that  a  swarm  of  locusts  alighted 
on  Mahomet's  head,  and  on  each  of  their  \i'ings 
was  written,  ""We  are  the  army  of  God."  We 
thus  identify  completely  the  symbol  with  the  Sara- 
cens, or  the  Arab  Mahometans. 

Now,  soon  after  the  rise  of  the  Mahometan 
smoke  from  the  pit,  we  read  that  "  the  Saracens 
embraced  the  new  and  startling  imposture,  and, 
imbued  intensely  with  its  fanaticism,  they  rushed 
in  overwhelming  crowds  into  the  eastern  parts  of 
Christendom."  Hallam  says,  "  The  religion  of 
Mahomet  is  essentially  military.  The  people  of 
Arabia  found  in  the  law  of  their  prophet,  not  a 
licence,  but  a  command  to  desolate  the  world." 
Like  locusts  they  descended  in  swarms  into  Europe, 
with  all  the  ferocity  of  lions,  with  all  the  fleetness 
of  steeds,  indulging  in  sensual  licence  upon  earth, 


AND  HIS  END.  91 

and  expecting  as  their  reward  sensual  enjoyments 
in  paradise. 

Having  thus  identified  the  symbol  with  the 
Saracens,  let  us  now  turn  to  history,  and  read,  as 
its  comment  upon  the  inspired  page,  the  history 
and  deeds  of  the  Saracens.  In  the  year  629  the 
Saracens  first  emerged  from  the  desert ;  in  a.d.  636 
they  burst  forth,  like  an  impetuous  torrent; 
Damascus  and  Jerusalem  fell  successively  before 
them  ;  and  that  very  year,  the  year  636,  a  mosque 
was  raised  on  the  site  of  the  illustrious  temple 
of  the  Jew,  and  the  cry  of  the  muezzin  wafted  by 
that  air  which  had  once  sounded  \Ndth  the  Psalms 
of  David,  and  echoed  with  hosannas  to  David's 
greater  Son.  In  ten  years,  from  634  to  644,  the 
Mahometans  reduced  3,600  cities,  destroyed  4,000 
churches,  and  built  1,400  mosques ;  and  the  illustra- 
tion of  the  scorpion-sting  is  in  these  words — "Ye 
Christian  dogs,  ye  know  your  choice ;  the  Koran, 
the  tribute,  or  the  cimeter."  And  those  that  were 
spared,  they  tormented  with  the  scorpion-sting  of 
the  lawless  tyranny  which  they  exercised. 

But  the  progress  of  these  Saracens,  you  see  in 
the  sacred  page,  had  two  limits :  first,  they  were 
not  to  hurt  any  that  had  the  seal  of  God  upon 
their  foreheads ;  and,  secondly,  they  were  not  to 
hurt  the  green  grass,  or  any  green  thing.  l!^ow, 
both  of  these  are  remarkably  fulfilled.  The  first 
was  fulfilled  in  this  fact :  at  the  time  that  they  went 
forth,  according  to  the  language  of  Gibbon,  "the 
Christians  of  the  seventh  century  had  relapsed  into 


92  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  semblance  of  Paganism ;  their  public  and 
private  prayers  were  addressed  to  images  and 
relics  that  disgraced  the  temples  of  the  heathen : 
and  the  throne  of  the  Almighty  was  darkened  by 
a  cloud  of  martyrs,  saints  and  angels,  the  objects 
of  popular  veneration."  These  idolatrous  Chris- 
tians, who  were  not  sealed  of  God,  were  the  objects 
of  the  punishment  of  the  locust  propagandists, 
commissioned  not  to  hurt  the  secret  and  hidden 
saints  of  the  Most  High,  but  to  visit  with  retribu- 
tive and  penal  judgments  those  who  had  turned 
the  Christian  fane  into  an  idol  temple,  and  wreathed 
around  the  brow  of  a  creature  the  glories  that  were 
the  exclusive  prerogatives  of  God  himself.  And 
secondly^  they  were  not  to  hurt  any  green  thing. 
How  remarkable  it  is,  these  are  almost  the  very 
words  of  the  commission  given  to  the  Saracens : 
"Destroy  no  palm-trees  nor  fields  of  corn;  cut 
down  no  fruit-trees  nor  green  things."  The  Goths 
turned  every  garden  into  a  desert ;  the  Saracens 
sacredly  preserved  them. 

And  lastly,  they  had  a  king  over  them.  The 
Goths  and  Vandals  adopted  the  religion  of  the 
<30untry  they  conquered ;  the  Saracens  carried  their 
religion  with  them,  and  their  subjection  to 
Mahomet,  their  prince  and  prophet,  was  part  and 
parcel  of  their  most  solemn  duty.  Their  mission 
was  not  to  annihilate  the  apostate  Christians  of  the 
East,  but  to  torment  them ;  and  the  time  of  their 
tormenting  them  was  limited  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years.     Every  time  that  the  Saracens  tried  to 


THE   MOSLEM,  AND   HIS  END.  93 

go  beyond  their  limit  they  were  checked  and 
repressed.  Twice  they  were  foiled  in  their  attempts 
at  Constantinople.  They  invaded  France ;  and  if 
they  had  succeeded  in  subjugating  that  illustrious 
land,  Europe  at  this  moment  had  probably  been 
Mahometan.  "  Charles  Martel  the  Hammer," 
the  historian  says,  "beat  them  back;  and  Europe 
owes  the  existence  of  its  liberties  and  its  religion 
to  his  heroic  efforts."  But  as  soon  as  they  had 
finished  their  commission,  we  find  they  immediately 
paused.  Ilallam  says, — "  Their  conquests  are  less 
perplexing  than  the  cessation  of  them."  Gibbon 
says, — "  The  calm  historian  must  study  to  explain 
by  what  means  Church  and  state  were  saved  from 
impending  desolation."  The  true  reason  was  the 
prophetic  record.  The  period  of  their  action  — 
that  is,  of  their  inflicting  torment  on  apostate 
Christendom — was  limited  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years.  Mark  how  true  this  is.  In  612 
Mahomet  first  proclaimed  his  mission.  "Who," 
he  said,  "will  be  my  Grand  Vizier?"  The  answer 
given  by  his  chief  follower  was, — "  0,  prophet !  I 
am  the  man.  Whoever  rises  against  thee,  I  will 
dash  out  his  teeth,  tear  out  his  locks  and  his  eyes, 
and  rip  him  up."  In  755  the  dynasty  of  the 
Ommiades  was  supplanted  in  the  caliphate  by  the 
Abassides ;  and  thus  they  were  rent  into  antago- 
nistic powers.  In  762  another  capital,  Medina  al 
Salem,  further  east,  was  selected,  and  there  the 
locust  settled.  Now  hear  what  the  historian  says. 
"The  colossus,"   says  Sismondi,  "that  had   be- 


94  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

stridden  the  whole  south  was  now  broken;  and 
this  revolt  did  more  for  the  deliverance  of  Europe 
from  the  Moslem  than  the  battle  of  Poictiers." 
And  Gibbon  says, — "  War  was  now  no  longer  the 
passion  of  the  Saracens.  The  luxury  of  the  caliphs 
relaxed  their  nerves,  and  terminated  the  progress 
of  the  Arabian  empire."  N^ow,  see  how  chronolo- 
gically exact  this  was.  In  612  was  the  commence- 
ment of  the  mission  of  Mahomet ;  762  was  the 
cessation  of  their  progress  and  their  conquest. 
Deduct  612  from  762,  and  you  have  150  years, 
called  in  the  Apocalypse  150  prophetic  days  —  the 
precise  period  during  which  their  action,  progress, 
and  success  were  to  continue. 

We  have  thus  seen,  what  is  called  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, the  first,  or  the  Saracenic  woe.  Let  us  turn 
to  the  Turkish,  or  the  second  woe,  as  it  is  therein 
called.  Heretofore  Western  Christendom  had  been 
the  chief  sufibrer  from  the  Saracen ;  Eastern  Chris- 
tendom was  no  less  guilty  than  the  West;  and 
hence  on  the  very  spot — and  this  will  explain  why 
we  identify  Turkey  and  Mahometanism  with  the 
Euphrates  —  on  which  the  Saracens  had  settled 
down,  namely,  Bagdad  on  the  Euphrates,  the 
angels  of  retribution  were  again  let  loose,  and  the 
Turks  marched  forth  under  Toghrul  Beg,  their 
constituted  head,  to  promote  the  secular  power  and 
religious  domination  of  Islam,  and  to  devastate 
Eastern  Christendom,  as  the  Saracens  before  them 
had  devastated  Asia  and  the  West.  Alp  Arslan, 
the  valiant  lion,  crossed  the  Euphrates, — the  com- 


AND  HIS   END.  95 

mencement  of  Turkish  propagandism,  —  in  1063, 
at  the  head  of  immense  Turkish  cavalry;  and 
hegan  a  career  of  resistless  conquests  over  the 
whole  of  Eastern  Christendom,  till  he  fell  by  the 
knife  of  the  assassin.  Malek  Shah  succeeded,  and 
spread  his  victories,  in  the  words  of  Gibbon,  "from 
the  spicy  groves  of  Arabia  Felix  to  Constantino- 
ple." The  Crusaders  averted  for  a  season  the 
downfall  of  the  imperial  city,  but  in  so  doing  they 
consolidated  the  forces  of  the  Ottoman ;  and  at  the 
end  of  the  fourteenth  centur}%  the  Turks  crossed 
the  Danube ;  and  Gibbon  says,  "  For  the  first  time 
during  a  thousand  years,  Constantinople  was  sur- 
rounded both  on  the  Asiatic  and  the  European 
sides."  The  Apocalypse  calls  them,  "the  number 
of  the  armies  of  horsemen."  Let  us  recollect,  the 
Western  warriors  were  chiefly  infantry — the  East- 
ern warriors  were  chiefly  cavalr}\  Gibbon  says, 
"The  myriads  of  Turkish  horse  overspread  the 
Greek  empire ;"  and  Peter  the  Hermit,  and  patri- 
arch of  Jerusalem,  wrote  to  their  brethren  in  the 
"West  in  these  words:  "We  call  for  help;  the 
forces  of  the  Turks  are  fierce,  and  more  numerous 
than  the  Saracens ;  they  have  in  anticipation  de- 
voured the  whole  world." 

Thus,  the  closer  we  read,  the  clearer  we  see  the 
accuracy  of  the  Apocalyptic  symbols  as  we  pro- 
ceed. It  is  said  that  "  out  of  their  mouths  came 
smoke  and  brimstone  and  fire."  At  this  very  time, 
and  primarily  at  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  gun- 
powder and  cannon  were  used,  at  least  on  a  vast 


96  '  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

scale,  and  a  park  of  artillery  plant  od  with  its  de- 
vastating thunders  against  Constantinople ;  and  it 
is  in  the  very  chapter  in  which  Gibbon  describes 
the  fall  of  the  mistress  of  the  East,  that  he  alludes 
to  the  mighty  effects  of  the  recent  and  mysterious 
mixture  of  saltpetre,  sulphur,  and  charcoal.  "  Canst 
thou  cast  a  cannon,"  said  the  Sultan  Mahomet  to 
the  founder,  "  large  enough  to  batter  down  the 
walls  of  Constantinople?"  The  cannon  were 
founded  at  Adrianople ;  and  soon  the  battlements 
and  fortifications  that  had  stood  the  shock  of  a 
thousand  years,  fell  before  the  Ottoman  cannon. 
Gibbon  says,  "Double  walls  were  reduced  by  the 
cannon ;  the  Turks  rushed  in  at  the  breaches ; 
Constantinople  w^as  subdued ;  her  empire  was  sub- 
verted, her  religion  trampled  in  the  dust,  by  the 
Moslem  conqueror;"  —  or,  in  the  words  of  the 
inspired  penman,  by  these  three,  the  fire,  the 
smoke,  (or  the  carbon),  and  the  sulphur,  which 
issued  out  of  their  mouths,  w^as  the  third  part  of 
Christendom  made  desolate. 

Then  it  is  added,  as  if  still  further  to  identify 
them :  "  Their  power,"  their  i^ovdla,  that  is,  their 
jurisdiction,  "is  in  their  tails."  What  a  strange 
expression  is  this  !  A  crown  is  a  mark  of  a  king, 
a  diadem  of  an  emperor,  a  sword  of  a  military 
prefect;  but  a  horse's  tail,  what  can  that  be  a 
mark  of?  Kotice  again  the  accuracy  of  Apocalyp- 
tic symbols.  In  one  of  the  great  battles  of  the 
Turks,  the  commander  lost  the  standard  of  his 
army;   he   immediately   dismounted,   cut  off  his 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  97 

horse's  tail,  hoisted  it  on  a  pole,  and  made  that  the 
rallying  standard  of  the  Turks.  And  what  is  the 
fact  to  this  day  ?  A  pasha  of  two,  or  a  pasha  of 
three  horse  tails,  is  now  the  description  of  Turkish 
dignitaries  and  rulers;  and  under  the  shelter  of 
these,  in  past  days,  they  have,  not  "hurt,"  as  we 
render  it,  hut  "done  injustice."  So  accurately  do 
we  identify  the  words  of  prophecy  with  the  chap- 
ters of  history !  Kow,  mark  again  :  "  Just  as  we 
had  specified  exactly  the  time, — 150  years, — during 
which  the  Saracens  were  to  punish  apostate  Chris- 
tendom, we  have  now  the  period  fixed  during 
which  the  Turks  are  to  punish  the  same,  though 
more  Eastern,  apostate  Christendom.  The  time  is 
appointed  —  a  day,  a  month,  a  year,  and  an  hour. 
Now,  prophetically  viewed,  —  for  prophecy  is  just 
like  the  map  of  a  country,  upon  the  scale  of  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  for  a  mile, — you  have  here  a  day 
for  a  year,  as  you  may  easily  see  by  referring  to 
various  parts  of  Scripture.  A  month,  30  years ;  a 
year,  365J  years;  an  hour,  15J  days.  Add  all 
these  together,  and  they  amount  to  396  years,  106 
days.  Now,  let  us  see  how  exactly  this  prophecy 
was  fulfilled  in  fact.  The  Turks  started  on  their 
mission  from  Bagdad  on  the  Euphrates,  on  Jan. 
18th,  1057.  On  May  29th,  1453,  their  last  exploit 
was  consummated,  when  Constantinople  fell.  De- 
duct Jan.  18th,  1057,  from  May  29th,  1453,  and 
you  have  the  prophecy  chronologically  proved  by 
fact,  or  as  is  proclaimed  in  the  prophecy  of  the 
Apocalypse,  the  duration,  396  years,  106  days, 
9 


98  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

Having  seen  the  successes  achieved  by  the  Sara- 
cens, and  next  by  the  Turks;  having  seen  how 
history  sustains  and  bears  out  the  words  of  pro- 
phecy, I  observe  that  the  waves  of  the  Euphratean 
flood,  that  overflowed  its  banks,  and  spread  from 
the  spicy  groves  of  Arabia  to  Constantinople,  are 
now  retreating  to  their  shores,  or  rather,  dryiug  up 
in  their  channels,  and  since  1820  the  flood  has 
evaporated  day  by  day;  and  as  the  Euphratean 
flood  retreats  from  the  lands  it  has  covered  as  by  a 
deluge,  and  evaporates  in  the  sunshine,  or  rolls  to 
its  ancient  channel,  thousands  of  true  Christians, 
Armenians  and  Greeks,  not,  as  their  fathers  have 
been,  the  worst  specimens  of  a  corrupt  Christianity, 
but  by  the  instrumentality  of  missionaries  regene- 
rated, illumined,  and  sanctified,  begin  to  raise  their 
heads,  and  to  aspire  after  that  glorious  supremacy 
when  Christ  shall  be  King  over  all  the  earth. 
Constantinople  may  be  Christian  ;  yet  it  may  not, 
and  it  must  not  be  Eussian.  St.  Sophia  need  not 
be  under  the  auspices  of  the  Czar,  nor  the  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople  made  a  subject  of  the  patri- 
arch of  St.  Petersburg;  and  yet  the  decay  of 
Mahometanism  is  as  plainly  proclaimed  in  this 
sacred  volume  as  any  one  fact  that  can  happen  in 
history.  During  the  sixth  vial,  which  began  about 
1820,  the  Euphrates  is  to  be  dried  up,  to  make  way 
for  the  kings  of  the  East.  It  would  take  too  much 
space  if  I  were  to  quote  all  the  proofs  of  this  dry- 
ing up  ever  since  1820,  when  the  prophecy  tells  us 
it  was  to  bedn.     The  2800  years  of  Daniel,  I  have 


THE  MOSLEM,  AND   HIS   END.  99 

alread}^  said,  were  to  end  in  1820.  At  that  period, 
then,  Mahometanism  was  to  begin  to  give  way. 
!N"ow,  just  read  the  facts  of  the  case.  One  in- 
terpreter, who  wrote  upwards  of  two  hundred 
years  ago,  accepted  the  symbol  of  the  "  drying  up 
of  the  Euphrates,"  as  predicted  under  the  sixth 
Apocalyptic  vial,  as  the  gradual  exhaustion  of  the 
Mahometan  power;  and  almost  every  prophetic 
student  since  that  time  has  furnished  stronger,  and 
to  my  mind,  absolutely  conclusive  proofs  of  the 
accuracy  of  this  interpretation. 

Another  eminent  interpreter  stated,  at  least  a 
hundred  years  ago,  that  about  1820  the  Turkish 
power  would  begin  its  course  of  wasting  and  decay. 
That  year,  viz,  1820,  is  universally  accepted  by 
prophetic  students  as  the  beginning  of  the  "  drying 
up  of  the  Euphrates,"  or  decadence  of  Mahometan- 
ism primarily  in  Europe,  and  progressively  over  all 
Asia. 

It  was  in  1820  that  Ali  Pasha,  of  Yanina,  pro- 
claimed his  independence,  and  hastened  on  the 
Greek  insurrection.  The  Suhot  Greeks  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt  in  ]S"ovember  of  the  same  year 
against  the  Sultan.  In  April  1821  the  Moreote 
Greeks  broke  out  in  insurrection.  Il^orthern 
Greece,  the  Isles  of  the  -^gean  Sea,  and  the 
Danubian  provinces  revolted.  In  the  Morea  the 
Greeks  destroyed  an  army  of  30,000  Turks  in 
1823.  By  sea  the  Greeks  beat  the  Turkish  and 
Egyptian  fleets  in  September  1824.  In  1827,  when 
the  Greeks  seemed  for  a  season  to  give  way,  the 


100  SIGNS    OF   THE  TIMES. 

combined  fleets  of  England,  France,  and  Kussia 
destroyed  the  Turco-Egyptian  fleets  at  the  battle 
of  N"avarino,  saved  Greece,  and  struck  a  blow 
against  Turkey  from  which  the  Ottoman  empire 
has  never  recovered.  In  1828,  Russia  feeling 
insulted,  declared  war,  crossed  the  Balkan,  entered 
Adiianople,  and  Constantinople  was  saved  only  by 
the  interposition  of  the  "Western  ambassadors. 
But  by  this  last  step,  the  exhaustion  of  Turkey,  or 
"  drying  up  of  the  Euphrates,"  was  very  greatly 
increased.  Servia,  Wallachia,  and  Moldavia  were 
all  practically  detached  from  Turkey,  and  in  the 
same  year  the  Turkish  i^rovince  of  Algiers  became 
a  French  colony.  As  if  the  fanaticism  of  Turkey, 
which  used  to  be  its  strength,  had  degenerated  into 
folly  and  infatuation,  she  massacred  the  Janizaries, 
her  right  arm,  and  found  this  reform  was  her  ruin. 
Afterwards  came  the  rebellion  of  Mehemet  Ali, 
the  Pasha  of  Egypt;  and  such  was  his  progress, 
that  if  the  "Western  powers  had  not  again  inter- 
posed, Turkey  had  been  annihilated.  From  1821 
to  1831,  earthquakes,  plague,  and  pestilence  almost 
depopulated  Bagdad,  Mecca,  and  Medina.  The 
Eev.  Mr.  Walsh,  the  British  Chaplain  at  Constan- 
tinople, writing  in  1831,  says,  as  I  have  already 
quoted,  "  Within  the  last  twenty  years  Constanti- 
nople has  lost  more  than  half  its  population.  Two 
conflagrations  happened  while  I  was  in  Constanti- 
nople, and  destroyed  15,000  houses.  The  silent 
operation  of  the  plague  is  continually  active, 
though  not  always  alarming.   It  will  be  no  exagge- 


THE  MOSLEM,  AND   HIS   END.  101 

mtion  to  say,  that  within  the  period  mentioned, 
from  300,000  to  400,000  have  been  prematurely 
swept  away  in  this  one  city  of  Europe,  by  causes 
which  were  not  operating  in  any  other, — conflagra- 
tion, pestilence,  and  civil  commotion."  I  give 
these  historic  facts  to  show  that  what  the  earliest 
students  of  prophecy  were  led  to  infer,  respecting 
the  gradual  exhaustion  of  the  Ottoman  power,  and 
the  date  of  the  beginning  of  its  decline,  has  been 
exactly  fulfilled. 

So  striking  are  the  prophetic  dates  relating  to 
the  exhaustion  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  that  one 
interpreter  of  prophecy  in  1840  fixed  the  period  of 
its  end  at  1849,  as  the  earliest  date;  and  almost 
every  student  of  prophecy,  of  any 'note  or  name, 
Mr.  Elliot,  Dr.  Keith,  Mr.  Bickersteth,  and  Mr.  Birks, 
were  unanimous  in  regarding  its  utter  overthrow 
as  just  at  our  doors,  before  the  present  invasion  of 
Kussia.  I  do  not  say  that  our  views  of  unfulfilled 
prophecy  are  to  regulate  cabinets ;  but  it  is  interest- 
ing to  us  calmly  yet  patiently  to  look  on  the  present 
complications  in  the  East  as  the  irresistible  har- 
bingers of  the  speedy  extinction  of  error ;  and  we 
almost  regret  that  our  great  nation  should  be 
dragged  into  war  as  if  to  avert  what  we  regard  as 
a  foregone  conclusion  prophetically  viewed,  and  a 
consummation,  which,  on  other  grounds,  we  would 
hasten  rather  than  delay.  But  we  do  not  war  to 
maintain  the  Crescent,  but  to  beat  back  from  us 
and  ours  a  powerful  despotism.  Students  of  pro- 
phecy   are    neither    fatalists    nor    prophets,   but 


102  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

investigators  of  those  glimpses  of  the  future  whicli 
the  Author  of  the  Bible  has  been  pleased  to  reveal.' 

The  same  prophetic  record  that  thus  indicates 
the  near  downfall  of  Mahometanism,  informs  us 
that  this  downfall  is  to  make  way  for  the  march 
of  "kings  from  the  sun-rising."  "Whether  this 
refers  to  the  Jews,  as  I  believe,  or  to  the  emergence 
of  the  ancient  Oriental  Churches,  is  matter  of  dis- 
pute. But  this  is  plain,  that  the  Christians  of  the 
East  will  gain  in  all  respects  by  the  waning  of  the 
Crescent,  and  prove  a  better  obstruction  to  Russia's 
ambition  than  the  Turks. 

Now,  it  seems  clear  from  the  words  of  Daniel's 
prophecy,  that  the  great  Mahometan  delusion, — 
for  such,  as  Christians,  we  must  regard  it, — and  its 
head  and  strength,  the  Ottoman  dynasty,  will  not 
be  struck  down  by  a  blow,  as  Russia  expects,  but 
must,  if  prophecy  be  true,  gradually  and  progres- 
sively expire.  It  dies  out ;  its  waters  are  literally 
evaporated;  it  expires  of  age,  decre]3itude,  and 
decay.  I  do  not  believe,  from  prophecy,  that  the 
Russian  eagle  will  be  allowed  to  tear  it  to  pieces, 
or  to  have  the  Sultan's  palace  for  its  eyrie.  I  do 
not  believe  that  it  will  be  suffered  to  disappear,  till 
the  last  pulse  beats  feebly  in  the  Mahometan  heart ; 
but  whether  there  is  peace  or  w^ar,  Turkey  is  equally 
exhausted.  If  Russia  persists  in  her  infatuated 
ambition,  Turkey,  as  a  Mahometan  power,  will  be 
destroyed ;  if  Russia  is  compelled,  before  the  bayo- 
nets of  Europe,  to  retire  to  the  Kremlin,  the  Turkish 
exchequer  will  be  exhausted ;  and,  in  either  case, 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  103 

the  prophecy  of  ite  expiry  will  be  fulfilled.  It  will 
"be  broken  without  hand."  The  waters  of  the 
great  Euphrates  will  gradually  evaporate.  Our 
country  at  this  moment,  in  taking  the  part  of  the 
Ottoman  empire,  seems  to  me  fulfilling  a  solemn 
and  a  sacred  duty.  Treaty,  promise,  compact,  and 
the  everlasting  duty  of  the  strong  to  sympathise 
with  the  weak  and  the  oppressed,  vindicate  the 
conduct  of  our  country.  Nations  have  duties  and 
responsibilities,  just  as  individuals  have.  This  pro- 
tection does  not  imply  that  we  approve  of  Maho- 
metanism,  or  that  we  wish  prosperity  to  the  Cres- 
cent, or  that  we  have  forgotten  the  barbarities  of 
the  Saracen,  and  the  fearful  tragedies  inflicted  upon 
Europe  by  the  Turk ;  but,  let  our  worst  of  enemies 
be  injured  and  insulted,  it  is  the  duty  of  a  Christian 
to  interpose  and  protect  him.  Suppose  our  worthy 
ecclesiastical  "ruler,"  Dr.  Wiseman,  were  insulted 
in  the  streets  of  London  by  a  mob,  I  should  feel  it 
my  duty  to  interpose  and  protect  him.  Because  he 
dislikes  me,  and  I  dislike  his  principles,  I  will  not 
forget  that  I  am  a  man,  and  whatever  is  human 
commands  my  sympathies,  —  still  less,  that  I  am  a 
Christian,  bound  to  sympathise  with  suffering  as 
such,  and  heap  coals  of  fire  upon  the  head  of  those 
that  are  opposed  to  me. 

And,  in  the  next  place,  it  is  most  remarkable, 
that  if  we  turn  to  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  —  and  for 
one  moment  I  will  do  so, — w^e  shall  find  that  while 
Tiussia  is  unconsciously  hastening  the  end  predicted 
in  prophecy,  every  act  of  her  conduct  is  reprobated 


104  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

and  condemned.  In  the  "Hebrew  Observer,'* 
written  by  unconverted  Jews,  there  is  a  leading 
article,  of  the  date  of  February  10,  1854,  most 
ably  written,  called  the  "  Eastern  Question ;"  which 
states  that  Russia  is  the  Meshech  and  the  Tubal, 
or  the  Eoss,  Moscow,  and  Tobolsk  mentioned  in 
the  Old  Testament;  and  these  Jews  say,  that  if 
the  Eussian  Autocrat  should  sweep  away  Turkey, 
their  existence  as  Jews  in  Turkey  is  gone.  Under 
the  Crescent,  they  say,  they  have  had  freedom, — 
under  the  Autocrat  they  have  had  cruelty,  tyranny, 
and  murder ;  and,  if  he  should  get  the  upper  hand, 
they  must  leave  the  realms  of  the  East.  And  then 
what  will  be  the  case?  From  the  sun-rising,  as 
predicted  in  prophecy,  the  Jews  will  march  home- 
ward, or  flee,  like  doves  to  their  windows,  and  find 
no  rest  for  the  soles  of  their  feet  till  they  arrive. in 
Palestine — theirs  by  everlasting  right,  and  the  de- 
cree that  cannot  be  abolished.  "Now,  in  Ezekiel, 
chap,  xxxviii.,  we  have  this  remarkable  prophecy, 
— so  remarkable  that  it  seems  to  me  to  refer  to 
these  days:  "Son  of  man,  set  thy  face  against 
Gog,  the  land  of  Magog,  the  chief  prince  of  Me- 
shech and  Tubal,  and  prophesy  against  him," — 
(How  like  the  names  Moscow  and  Tobolsk!) — 
"  and  say.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God ;  Behold,  I  am 
against  thee,  0  Gog,  the  chief  prince  of  Meshech 
and  Tubal :  and  I  will  turn  thee  back,  and  put 
hooks  into  thy  jaws,  and  I  will  bring  thee  forth, 
and  all  thine  army,  horses  and  horsemen,  all  of 
them  clothed  with  all  sorts  of  armour,  even  a  great 


THE   MOSLEM,  AND  HIS  END.  105 

company  with  bucklers  and  shields,  all  of  them 
handling  swords :  Persia,  Ethiopia,  and  Libya  with 
them  ;  all  of  them  with  shield  and  helmet :  Gomer, 
and  all  his  bands ;  the  house  of  Togarmah  of  the 
north  quarters,  and  all  his  bands :  and  many  people 
with  thee.  Be  thou  prepared,  and  prepare  for  thy- 
self, thou,  and  all  thy  company  that  are  assembled 
unto  thee,  and  be  thou  a  guard  unto  them." — (How 
like  what  is  taking  place!) — "After  many  days 
thou  shalt  be  visited :  in  the  latter  years  thou  shalt 
come  into  the  land  that  is  brought  back  from  the 
sword,  and  is  gathered  out  of  many  people,  against 
the  mountains  of  Israel,  which  have  been  always 
waste :  but  it  is  brought  forth  out  of  the  nations, 
and  they  shall  dwell  safely  all  of  them.  Thou  shalt 
ascend  and  come  like  a  storm,  thou  shalt  be  like  a 
cloud  to  cover  the  land,  thou,  and  all  thy  bands, 
and  many  people  with  thee.  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God;  It  shall  also  come  to  pass,  that  at  the  same 
time  shall  things  come  into  thy  mind,  and  thou 
shalt  think  an  evil  thought"  —  (suppose  this  ad- 
dressed to  the  Autocrat:)  —  "and  thou  shalt  say,  I 
will  go  up  to  the  land  of  unwalled  villages ;  I  will 
go  to  them  that  are  at  rest,  that  dwell  safely,  all 
of  them  dwelling  without  walls,  and  having  neither 
bars  nor  gates,  to  take  a  spoil,  and  to  take  a  prey ; 
to  turn  thine  hand  upon  the  desolate  places  that 
are  now  inhabited,  and  upon  the  people  that  are 
gathered  out  of  the  nations,  which  have  gotten 
cattle  and  goods,  that  dwell  in  the  midst  of  the 
land.     Sheba,  and  Dedan,  and  the  merchants  of 


106  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Tarshish,  with  all  the  young  lions  thereof,  shall 
say  unto  thee,  Art  thou  come  to  take  a  spoil  ?  hast 
thou  gathered  thy  company  to  take  a  prey?  to 
carry  away  silver  and  gold,  to  take  away  cattle  and 
goods,  to  take  a  great  spoil?  Therefore,  son  of 
man,  prophesy  and  say  unto  Gog,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God ;  In  that  day  when  my  people  of  Israel 
dwelleth  safely,  shalt  thou  not  know  it  ?  And  thou 
shalt  come  from  thy  place  out  of  the  north  parts, 
thou,  and  many  people  with  thee,  all  of  them  riding 
upon  horses,  a  great  company,  and  a  mighty  army : 
and  thou  shalt  come  up  against  my  people  of  Israel, 
as  a  cloud  to  cover  the  land ;  it  shall  be  in  the  latter 
days,  and  I  will  bring  thee  against  my  land,  that 
the  heathen  may  know  me,  when  I  shall  be  sancti- 
fied in  thee,  O  Gog,  before  their  eyes.  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  God ;  Art  thou  he  of  whom  I  have  spoken 
in  old  time  by  my  servants  the  prophets  of  Israel, 
which  prophesied  in  those  days  many  years  that  I 
would  bring  thee  against  them?  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  at  the  same  time  when  Gog  shall 
come  against  the  land  of  Israel,  saith  the  Lord 
God,  that  my  fury  shall  come  up  in  my  face ;  for 
in  my  jealousy,  and  in  the  fire  of  my  wrath  have 
I  spoken.  Surely  in  that  day  there  shall  be  a  great 
shaking  in  the  land  of  Israel." 

If  this,  then,  relate  —  and  it  relates  to  the  last 
days  —  to  Gog,  and  Magog,  and  Tubal,  as  the  re- 
presentative names  of  Russia  and  its  chief  cities, 
then  we  see  that  whilst  he  fulfils,  as  the  axe  in  the 
hand  of  the  Almighty,  prophecies  that  relate  to 


AND   HIS   END.  107 

the  future,  he  is  not  thereby  exempt  from  punish- 
ment, or  free  from  guilt,  because  he  himself  is  a 
free  agent,  though  used  in  the  hands  of  Him  who 
has  the  command,  and  the  control,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  all.  Our  views  of  prophecy  are  not  to 
modify  our  duties.  The  Czar  may  fulfil  prophecies, 
and  yet  be  most  guilty.  It  is  not  our  business  to 
fulfil  prophecies,  but  to  obey  precepts.  Because, 
for  instance,  it  is  predicted,  "A  Jew  shall  be  a 
scoff,  a  by-word,  and  a  scorn,"  some  men  think 
they  cannot  do  a  more  Christian  act  than  spit  upon 
a  Jew,  extract  his  teeth,  maltreat  him,  and  call  him 
by  bad  names.  Leave  God  to  fulfil  the  prophecies 
He  has  inspired ;  you  fulfil  the  duties  He  has  laid 
down — justice,  mercy,  sympathy,  and  love. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  see  the  great  panorama 
of  the  future  sketched  in  its  minutest  details  on  the 
sacred  page,  and  to  witness  autocrats  from  their 
thrones,  and  armies  from  their  barracks,  rushing, 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  to  fill  up  the  outline  that 
God  has  chalked  out  upwards  of  two  thousand 
years  ago.  I  know  it  will  be  said,  Turkey  is 
dying;  it  will  soon  be  defunct;  why  should  wo 
care  for  it  ?  I  answer,  —  If  a  man  were  dying  of 
consumption,  we  should  not  think  of  knocking  him 
on  the  head  and  killing  him  outright ;  on  the  con- 
trary, we  should  try  to  get  him  the  w^armest  blan- 
kets and  the  most  nourishing  food,  and  shelter  him 
from  the  winds  and  the  biting  frost  and  the  storms, 
and  protract  his  life  to  the  latest  period.  And  be- 
cause Turkey  is  feeble,  because  it  is  dying  of  a 


108  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

consumption  that  is  obvious  and  inevitable,  that  is 
no  reason  why  the  Autocrat  should  strike  it  down, 
and  why  nations  that  are  Christian  should  stand 
by  and  sufler  the  tyrant  to  inflict  the  blow. 

It  is  singular  enough  that  the  Turks  themselves 
are  almost  universally  persuaded  that  the  hour  of 
their  doom  has  struck.  At  this  moment  the  dead 
that  die  in  the  European  part  of  the  city  are  car- 
ried across  the  Bosphorus  and  buried  on  the  Asia- 
tic side,  where  they  think  they  will  rest  in  peace. 
They  have  also  a  tradition  amongst  themselves, 
that  1854  ends  the  dynasty  of  the  Turk  in  Europe; 
and  JSTapoleon  Bonaparte  in  St.  Helena,  forty  years 
ago,  with  tliat  extraordinary  sagacit}-  with  which 
that  great  man's  mind  was  characterised,  said:  ^'In 
the  natural  course  of  things,  in  a  few  years  Turkey 
must  fall  to  Russia.  The  greatest  part  of  her  popu- 
lation are  Greeks,  who,  you  may  say,  are  Russians. 
The  Powers  it  would  injure — and  w^ho  could  oppose 
it'?  —  are  England,  France,  Prussia,  and  Austria. 
Now,  as  to  Austria,  it  will  be  very  easy  for  Russia 
to  engage  her  assistance  by  giving  her  Servia,  and 
other  provinces  bordering  upon  the  Austrian  domi- 
nions, reaching  near  to  Constantinople.  The  only 
hypothesis  that  France  and  England  may  ever  be 
allied  with  sincerity  will  bo  in  order  to  prevent  this. 
But  even  this  alliance  will  not  avail.  France, 
England,  and  Prussia  united,  cannot  prevent  it. 
Russia  and  Austria  can  at  any  time  effect  it. 
Once  mistress  of  Constantinople,  Russia  gets  all 
the   commerce  of  the  Mediterranean,  becomes  a 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  109 

great  naval  Power,  and  God  knows  what  may 
happen.  She  quarrels  with  you,  inarches  off  to 
India  an  army  of  70,000  good  soldiers,  which  to 
Russia  is  nothing,  and  100,000  canaille,  Cossacks 
and  others,  and  England  loses  India.  Above  all 
the  other  powers,  Russia  is  the  most  to  be  feared, 
especially  by  you.  Her  soldiers  are  braver  than 
the  Austrians,  and  she  has  the  means  of  raising  as 
many  as  she  pleases.  In  bravery,  the  French  and 
English  soldiers  are  the  only  ones  to  be  compared 
to  them.  All  this  I  foresaw.  I  see  into  futurity 
further  than  others,  and  I  wanted  to  establish  a 
barrier  against  those  barbarians  by  re-establishing 
the  kingdom  of  Poland,  and  putting  Poniatowski 
at  the  head  of  it  as  king :  but  your  imbeciles  of 
ministers  would  not  consent.  A  hundred  yeara 
hence  I  shall  be  praised,  and  Europe,  especially 
England, ,  will  lament  that  I  did  not  succeed. 
"When  they  see  the  finest  countries  in  Europe 
overrun,  and  a  prey  to  those  northern  barbarians, 
they  will  say,  ^IN'apoleon  was  right.'"  Now,  at 
this  moment  the  Greek  and  Armenian  Christians 
are,  many  of  them,  being  translated  from  darkness 
into  light,  and  from  the  kingdom  of  Satan  into  that 
of  God's  dear  Son.  At  present  many  of  the  Greek 
and  Armenian  Christians,  as  a  body,  are  much  less 
truthful,  much  more  depraved,  than  even  the  worst 
of  the  Turks ;  but  is  it  impossible  to  suppose  that 
these  degraded  Christians  shall  be  the  subjects  of  a 
new  and  a  noble  resurrection  ? — that  the  Crescent 
shall  not  wane  till  it  disappears  before  the  Cross,— 
10 


110  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

that  the  moon  of  Islam  shall  not  set,  till  it  is 
merged  in  the  rising  splendour  of  the  Sun  of 
righteousness  ?  and  a  nation  Christian  to  its  core 
take  the  place  of  the  Mahometans,  and  form  a 
stronsrer  barrier  to  Eiissian  ambition  and  Russian 
domination  than  a  dying,  exhausted,  and  decrepit 
empire  ?  But  is  the  Mahometan  himself  impervious 
to  light  ?  The  predicted  decay  of  Mahometanism 
as  a  power  may  be  the  prophecy  of  her  resurrection 
as  a  Christian  dynasty.  Everybody  knows  that 
Turkey  of  1854  is  not  the  same  as  Turkey  in  the 
days  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  The  paddle-wheel 
now  disturbs  the  silence  of  the  Dardanelles ;  the 
scream  of  the  railway  whistle  echoes  from  the  walls 
of  St.  Sophia ;  the  printing-press  is  busy  in  Con- 
stantinople; our  newspapers  are  read  by  the  Turks; 
a  spirit  of  reform  is  sweeping  the  Divan  that  will 
end  in  a  grand  reformation  ;  and,  mainly  through 
the  instrumentality  of  American  missionaries,  the 
Turks  begin  to  discover  that  the  Christian  faith  is 
not  that  degraded  and  brutish  superstition  which 
has  hitherto  been  embodied  in  the  miserable  speci- 
mens that  have  dwelt  in  the  midst  of  them ;  and 
the  ancient  savage  law,  which  made  it  death  for  a 
man  who  had  become  a  Mussulman  and  was  once 
a  Christian  to  revert  to  his  Christianity  again,  is 
now  abolished ;  and  so  late  as  1846  the  Armenian 
patriarch,  according  to  usage,  sent  in  the  names  of 
thirteen  Protestants  to  the  Sultan,  praying  that, 
according  to  custom,  at  his  bidding,  they  might  be 
banished  from  the  land.     The  Sultan  replied,  that 


AND  HIS  END.  Ill 

"  henceforth  no  subject  of  his  should  suffer  for  his 
religious  opinions."  The  greatest  persecutors  in 
Turkey  for  the  last  hundred  years  have  not  always 
been  the  Mahometans,  but,  I  say  it  with  shame, 
the  professed  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
have  been  too  often  intolerant ;  and  at  this  moment 
the  greatest  advocates  of  liberty  are  the  Sultan  and 
his  Grand  Vizier,  not  perhaps  from  principle,  bu 
policy;  and,  a  thousand  times  sooner,  as  far  as 
secular  and  personal  freedom  is  concerned,  let  me 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Sultan  and  his  Grand 
Vizier,  than  into  the  hands  of  Pio  Nono  and  his 
Grand  Vizier  in  Golden  Square. 

The  prophetic  decay  of  the  Turk,  as  the  bulwark 
of  Islam,  does  not  necessarily  mean  the  extinction 
of  the  Turk,  but  the  exchange  of  his  errors  for 
everlasting  and  glorious  truth.  !N'ot  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  man,  but  the  departure  of  his  supersti- 
tion, may  be  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy.  This 
is  the  existing  course  of  things  in  the  East.  Chris- 
tianity is  not  a  religion  of  annihilation,  but  of 
amelioration,  elevation,  improvement;  and  when 
the  present  dark  and  tainted  streams  of  the 
Euphrates,  that  have  so  long  overflowed  the  fair 
lands  of  Eastern  Christendom,  shall  have  retired, 
or  rolled  back  to  their  ancient  channels,  or  rather 
evaporated  beneath  the  beams  of  the  unsetting 
sun,  the  lands  from  which  those  floods  have  ebbed 
away  shall  be  covered  with  the  knowledge  of  the 
Lord,  as  the  waters  of  the  ocean  cover  the  channels 
of  the  great  deep ;  and  that  river  whose  streams 


112  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

make  glad  the  city  of  our  God  shall  roll  where  the 
Euphrates  had  rolled  its  tide  before ;  and 

"  With  anthems  of  devotion, 

Ships  from  the  isles  shall  meet, 
And  pour  the  wealth  of  ocean 
In  tribute  at  His  feet. 

"  For  Christ  shall  have  dominion 
O'er  river,  sea,  and  shore ; 
Far  as  the  eagle's  pinion, 
Or  dove's  light  vring  can  soar." 

What  is  called  the  "Eastern  question"  may  be 
lulled  for  a  little,  but  only  to  be  resuscitated  with 
more  terrible  results.  The  source  of  its  protracted 
agitation  lies  in  the  moral  condition  of  the  East. 
The  age,  also,  in  which  we  live  has  for  its  awful 
and  its  ominous  motto  —  "  Overturn,  overturn, 
overturn."  This  is  the  partial  destiny  of  the  good; 
we  trust  it  is  the  doom  of  all  that  is  unholy  and 
evil.  What  comes  from  God  is  sustained  by  him. 
What  is  evil  is  weak.  The  Crescent  is  doomed  to 
wane ;  the  Tiara  trembles  on  the  head  of  him  that 
wears  it ;  and  superstition,  in  all  its  aspects,  will 
soon  flee  before  the  approach  of  an  unsetting  sun : 
and  while  statesmen  in  their  official  capacity,  and 
nations  in  their  national  capacity,  are  doing  their 
duty  to  the  oppressed,  and  trying  to  stay  the 
oppressor,  let  us  as  Christians  do  ours,  by  extend- 
ing missions,  circulating  God's  word,  urging  on- 
ward into  every  land  that  blessed  kingdom  which 
conquers  by  truth,  not  arms  —  reigns  by  love,  not 
force — and  is  "  not  meat  nor  drink,  but  righteous- 
ness and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 


THE   MOSLEM,   AND   HIS   END.  113 

I  grieve  that  our  brave  and  heroic  troops  should 
be  sent  to  bleed  and  fall  on  distant  shores ;  I  grieve 
over  the  existence  of  war ;  but  I  believe  that  the 
war  now  provoked  by  the  ambition  of  the  Kussian 
Autocrat,  and  accepted  by  our  country,  is  a  war, 
not  only  of  policy,  but  of  justice,  of  truthfulness, 
of  mercy.  The  guilt  rests  on  Russia.  I  pity  the 
infatuated  Autocrat ;  may  his  punishment  be  signal, 
or  his  repentance  speedy !  May  his  ambition  meet 
with  reward !  May  he  learn  in  the  Kremlin  that 
justice  and  truth  and  mercy  are  stronger  than 
Cossacks,  and  more  enduring  than  armed  bat- 
talions ;  and  whilst  our  intrepid  soldiers  on  the 
land,  and  our  brave  sailors  on  the  Baltic  and  the 
Black  Sea,  inspired  by  a  sense  of  the  justice  of 
their  cause,  are  battling  not  only  for  mercy  to  the 
oppressed,  but  for  protection  to  our  dear  native 
land, — whilst  they,  like  Joshua,  are  warring  in  the 
plains  below,  let  us,  like  Moses,  lift  up  our  hearts 
and  hands,  and  pray  that  He  "  to  whom  the  shields 
of  the  earth  belong,"  would  uphold  and  bless  the 
banners  of  the  right. 

We  have  no  sympathy  with  the  Koran,  no  desire 
to  uphold  the  Mosque,  no  wish  to  see  the  Osmanli 
strike  deeper,  or  extend  wider  his  withering  foot- 
print. But  we  have  no  less  dread  of  autocratic 
tyranny,  and  of  the  lust  of  power.  Acquiescence 
in  this  matter  would  be  connivance.  It  would  not 
avert  ultimate  war.  We  pray  that  the  Prince  of 
Peace  may  soon  spread  his  love  and  law  over  all 
the  earth. 
10* 


114  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 


m. 


AND   HIS   HOPE. 

I  EXPECT  that  some,  especially  those  who  have 
not  studied  the  subject,  will  dissent  from  the 
conclusions  which  I  have  carefully,  prayerfully, 
and  humbly  gathered  from  God's  most  holy  word ; 
but  when  I  present  the  views  or  deductions  that 
seem  right,  I  hope  I  shall  state  them  with  sim- 
plicity, with  all  absence  of  dogmatism,  and  with 
humble  submission  to  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  speaking  in  his  own  word,  which  will  at 
least  commend  the  spirit  in  which  I  speak,  if  it  do 
not  make  good  the  conclusions  to  which  I  have 
arrived.  On  truths  indispensably  essential  to  vital 
religion  we  may  speak  with  explicit  and  unqualified 
confidence,  but  on  unfulfilled  prophecy  we  must 
speak  humbly,  deferentially,  often  doubtingly, 
treading  with  tenderness  and  caution,  bearing  in 
mind  distinctly  and  plainly  the  great  and  blessed 
truths  on  which  we  do  agree,  and  taking  heed  to 
them  as  unto  stars  shining  in  a  dark  night,  until 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arises  with  perfect  heal- 
ing under  his  wings. 

The  personal  coming  of  our  blessed  Lord  in 
glory,  the  hope  of  the  Christian,  does  appear  to 


THE  CHRISTIAN,   AND  HIS  HOPE.  115 

me  as  no  less  clearly  revealed  in  God's  lioly  word 
than  was  the  personal  advent  of  the  Saviour,  to 
be  sacrificed  for  the  sins  of  all.  All  Christians  be- 
lieve that  Christ  will  come  again ;  but  some  think 
that  he  will  come  previous  to  the  millennial  glory ; 
others,  that  he  will  come  at  the  close  of  the  millen- 
nial glory.  It  rests  with  each  investigator  of  God's 
holy  word  to  decide  whether  that  advent  shall  be 
pre-millennial  or  post-millennial,  and  what  shall 
be  the  accompaniments  of  that  glorious  day  when 
he  shall  come  again  a  second  time  without  sin  unto 
salvation. 

Let  me  briefly  bring  before  your  notice  a  few  of 
the  texts  that  allude  to  the  second  coming  of  our 
Lord,  and  you  will  at  oncesee  how  frequently  the 
subject  is  introduced  in  prophecy.  Acts  iii.  19, — 
"When  the  times  of  refreshing  shall  come  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord ;  and  he  shall  send  Jesus 
Christ,  which  before  was  preached  unto  you  :  whom 
the  heaven  must  receive  until  the  times  of  restitu- 
tion of  all  things,  which  God  hath  spoken  by  the 
mouth  of  all  his  holy  prophets  since  the  world  be- 
gan." Matt.  xxiv.  30,  —  "  And  they  shall  see  the 
Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with 
power  and  great  glory."  Matt.  xxv.  31, — "When 
the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the 
holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the 
throne  of  his  glory ;  and  before  him  shall  be  ga- 
thered all  nations :  and  he  shall  separate  them  one 
from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth  the  sheep 
from  the  goats."     2  Thess.  i.  7,—"  The  Lord  Jesus 


116  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty  an- 
gels, in  flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them 
that  know  not  God,  and  that  obey  not  the  Gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Acts  i.  11, — "This 
same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  hea- 
ven, shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen 
him  go  into  heaven."  Luke  xii.  40, — "  The  Son 
of  man  cometh  in  an  hour  when  ye  think  not." 
Again, — "  The  day  of  the  Lord  cometh  as  a  thief 
in  the  night."  Again,  Matt.  xxiv.  27,  —  "For  as 
the  lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east,  and  shineth 
even  unto  the  west ;  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  Man  be."  1  Thess.  iv.  16,-- "The  Lord 
shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the 
voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God : 
and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first;  then  we 
which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  to- 
gether with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air :  and  so  shall  we  be  ever  with  the  Lord." 
And  again,  in  Dan.  vii.  14,  —  "  There  was  given 
him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that 
all  people,  and  nations,  and  languages  should  serve 
him :  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion, 
which  shall  not  pass  away,  and  his  kingdom  that 
which  shall  not  be  destroyed."  Let  me  call  your 
attention  also  to  Titus  ii.  14,  —  "  Looking  for  that 
blessed  hope,  and  the  appearing  of  the  great  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  This  passage  is 
wrongly  translated ;  for  the  great  God  our  Father 
is  never  said  to  appear  a  second  time ;  it  is,  literally 
rendered,  "That  blessed  hope,  that  glorious  per- 


THE  CHRISTIAN,  AND  HIS   HOPE.  117 

sonal  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  great  God 
and  Saviour ;"  where  our  Redeemer  is  called  the 
great  God  and  Saviour.  When  he  comes  a  second 
time,  then  "we  shall  see  him  as  he  is;"  we  shall 
reign  with  him  in  heaven,  we  shall  dwell  with  him 
in  glory.  The  attitude  of  the  Church  in  the  pre- 
sent dispensation  is  that  of  the  bride  looking  for 
the  bridegroom,  and  nothing  will  satisfy  the  bride 
but  the  bridegroom  ;  nothing  will  comfort  the  wait- 
ing widow  but  the  presence  of  the  everlasting  hus- 
band. The  great  high  priest  of  the  Jewish  nation 
was  a  perfect  type  of  Christ.  What  was  his  office 
at  their  great  and  solemn  feast?  lie  offered  up 
sacrifice,  and  then  went  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  to 
make  intercession  for  the  people,  and  then  he  came 
forth  from  the  Holy  of  Holies  and  blessed  the  peo- 
ple. iNow,  our  great  High  Priest  exactly  corresponds 
to  theirs.  He  has  offered  up  a  perfect  sacrifixje  once 
for  all  without  the  camp,  and  is  now  in  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  in  heaven  itself,  where  he  makes  inter- 
cession for  us.  But  what  was  the  attitude  of  the 
Jewish  people  when  the  high  priest  w^as  in  the  Holy 
of  Holies  ?  They  were  waiting  for  him  to  come 
forth  to  bless  them.  What  is  to  be  our  attitude 
while  our  great  High  Priest,  having  offered  up  the 
sacrifice,  is  in  the  true  holy  place?  Unlike  the 
Roman  Catholic,  we  should  not  continue  to  offer 
the  sacrifice,  but  we  should  now  be  waiting  on  the 
tiptoe  of  expectation  for  our  great  High  Priest  to 
come  forth  to  bless  us  from  the  Holy  of  Holies.  It 
is  alike  the  Christian's  duty  and  privilege  to  look 


118  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

forward  for  tlie  coming  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
JesLis  Christ.     We  wait  for  him. 

It  does  appear  evident  that  no  millennial  state 
will  precede  our  Lord's  personal  advent.  I  know 
that  some  excellent  Christians  differ  from  me  on 
this,  therefore  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  try  to  state 
distinctly  what  the  word  of  God  indicates  respect- 
ing this  point.  If  we  turn  to  the  thirteenth  chap- 
ter of  Matthew,  we  shall  find  an  important  expla- 
nation at  the  twenty-first  verse.  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  sowing  good  seed  in 
a  field ;  and  while  he  slept,  the  enemy  went  in  and 
sowed  tares :  and  when  the  seed  sprang  up,  the 
tares  and  the  wheat  came  up  together.  What  did 
the  Lord  of  the  harvest  do  ?  Did  he  send  men 
forth  with  as  the  reapers  to  separate  them  ?  "No ;  he 
said,  "  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest ; 
and  then  I  will  say  to  the  reapers,  Gather  first  the 
tares,  and  then  bind  them  in  bundles  and  burn 
them ;  but  gather  the  w^heat  into  my  barn."  It  is 
so  in  the  present  dispensation ;  the  good  and  bad 
grow  up  together,  and  are  not  separated  until  the 
end ;  and  as  the  tares  were  gathered  and  burned  in 
the  fire,  so  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  this  dispensa- 
tion, for  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  and  cast  out 
the  unbelievers  into  a  furnace  of  fire,  "where  shall 
be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth,"  and  gather  the 
good  into  heavenly  habitations.  The  whole  Chris- 
tian economy  is  a  composite  one.  The  visible 
church  is  not  all  pure  w^heat,  but  a  mixture  of  tares 
and  wheat,  and  it  appears  it  will  continue  to  be  so 


119 

tijl  Christ  himself  comes  at  the  end  of  this  dispen- 
sation. It  is  quite  plain  that  there  will  be  no  such 
thing  as  a  perfect  visible  church  till  the  Lord 
comes.  It  will  continue  a  mixture  of  good  and 
bad  until  the  end.  I  regard,  in  fact,  the  very 
existence  of  a  visible  church  very  much  as  I  do  a 
provisional  committee.  We  used  to  hear  in  railway 
times  of  provisional  committees.  These  were  simply 
committees  appointed  to  act  until  the  true  or  com- 
petent committee  should  be  appointed.  The  whole 
visible  church  is  at  this  moment  purely  provisional ; 
but  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  that  which 
is  provisional  shall  be  done  away.  Meantime  the 
church  is  made  up  of  tares  and  wheat,  and  this 
mixture  ^vill  continue  throughout  this  dispensation, 
till  there  arrive  that  perfect  state  after  the  advent, 
in  which  there  will  be  neither  flaw,  nor  sin,  nor 
defect,  but  all  God's  people  shall  be  presented  a 
glorious  church,  without  spot  or  blemish  or  any 
such  thing.  This  takes  place  at  the  advent  of 
Christ:  but  those  who  hold  that  the  millennium 
must  come  first,  must  conclude  that  the  tares  will 
be  separated  from  the  wheat  a  thousand  years 
before  Christ  comes.  According  to  the  text  I  have 
read,  they  will  not  be  separated  until  Christ  him- 
self comes,  and  therefore  the  perfect  church  is  not 
prior,  but  subsequent  to  Christ's  advent,  and  there- 
fore Christ's  advent  is  pre-millennial  and  not  post- 
millennial.  In  the  second  chapter  of  the  second  of 
Thessalonians  we  read, — "  Let  no  man  deceive  you 
by  any  means ;  for  that  day  shall  not  come,  except 


120  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

there  come"  (as  I  shall  translate  it)  "the  apostasy, 
and  that  Man  of  Sin  be  revealed,  the  Son  of  perdi- 
tion ;  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all 
that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped ;  so  that 
he  as  God  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God.  For  the  mystery  of  ini- 
quity doth  already  work ;  only  he  who  now  letteth 
will  let,  until  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way.  And 
then  shall  that  Wicked  be  revealed,  whom  the 
Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth, 
and  shall  destroy  with  the  brightness  of  his  coming: 
even  him  whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of 
Satan,  with  all  power  and  signs  and  lying  wonders, 
and  with  all  deceivableness  of  unrighteousness  in 
them  that  perish ;  because  they  have  not  received 
the  love  of  the  truth,  that  they  might  be  saved." 
"We  are  told  in  this  chapter  that  the  great  apostasy 
commenced  in  the  Apostle's  days,  and  that  it  would 
continue  till  Christ  shall  come  again.  According 
to  those  who  hold  that  the  millennium  precedes 
Christ's  advent,  Popery  is  to  be  destroyed  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel;  but  according  to  the 
Apostle  Paul,  Popery  is  to  be  wasted  progressively 
by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  but  to  be  uprooted 
and  destroyed  finally  at  and  by  Christ's  advent  — 
indicating  that  it  will  be  co-existent  w^ith  this  dis- 
pensation. I  cannot  conceive  any  one  passage  of 
Scripture  more  fatal  to  the  theory  that  the  millen- 
nium precedes  Christ's  advent  than  this  prediction 
of  the  great  apostasy.  It  begins  in  the  days  of  the 
Apostle,  stretches  forward  to  the  millennial  glory, 


THE   CHRISTIAN,    AND   HIS   HOPE.  121 

and  is  to  be  destroyed,  not  by  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  but  only  by  the  personal  advent  and  glo- 
rious appearing  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  In  another  passage,  in  the  first  chapter  of 
the  Acts,  we  read,  that  when  the  disciples  were 
assembled  together,  they  asked  the  Lord,  saying, 
"Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore  again  the 
kingdom  to  Israel?"  Every  Jew  looked  then  for 
a  temporal  Messiah,  and  every  Jew  still  expects 
Messiah  to  come  in  temporal  glory.  But  what 
answer  did  our  Lord  make  to  the  inquiry  ?  Not, 
Your  expectation  is  wrong ;  but,  "  It  is  not  for  you 
to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons,  which  the  Father 
hath  put  in  his  own  power."  I  believe  so  far  with 
the  Jew,  that  Christ  will  come  in  his  everlasting 
glory.  The  Jew,  however,  has  passed  over  the  first 
advent,  and  sees  the  promise  of  the  second  only. 
When  the  Apostles  said,  "Wilt  thou  at  this  time 
restore  again  the  kingdom  to  Israel?"  our  Lord 
did  not  answer  that  they  must  not  look  for  such  a 
thing.  lie  said,  "  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the 
times  or  the  seasons,  which  the  Father  hath  put  in 
his  own  power :"  intimating  that  God  would  restore 
the  kingdom  to  Israel,  and  that  the  only  point  then 
hid  from  them  was  the  time  and  the  season  that  he 
would  select ;  and  the  two  men  in  white  apparel, 
that  spake  to  them  from  heaven,  said,  —  "Ye  men 
of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ? 
this  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  frpm  you  into 
heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  je  have 
aeen  him  go  into  heaven,"  —  an4  surely  th}s  naust 
11 


122  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

be  his  personal  advent.  They  saw  him  ascend  from 
amongst  them,  and  a  cloud  receive  him  into  glory; 
and  we  shall  see  him  again  return  in  a  cloud,  and 
descend  upon  the  earth  in  the  same  cloud,  sur- 
rounded by  the  same  glory.  In  the  nineteenth 
chapter  of  Matthew,  the  promise  made  specially  to 
the  Apostles  indicates  the  same  truth,  when  our 
Lord  says — "  Yerily  I  say  unto  you.  That  ye  which 
have  followed  me,  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit 
in  the  throne  of  his  glory,  in  the  regeneration,  ye 
also"  (that  is,  ye  who  have  followed  me  now) 
"  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel."  The  Greek  here  is  ^v  ttj  -n-aXiy/g- 
vsria,  or  the  age  thus  delineated.  "  And  I  heard  a 
great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying.  Behold,  the 
tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God 
himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God,  and 
God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and 
there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor 
crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain :  for 
the  former  things  are  passed  away."  ;N"ow  this 
promise  made  to  the  Apostles  of  sitting  upon 
thrones  in  the  regeneration  or  restoration  of  all 
things,  is  evidently  connected  with  the  fulfilment 
of  the  promise  in  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  Reve- 
lation, where  Christ  is  described  as  descending 
from  heaven  to  his  redeemed  and  ransomed  people. 
In  Daniel  it  is  thus  described — ''I  saw  in  the  night 
visions,  and,  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  Man  came 
with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came  to  the  Ancient 


THE  CHRISTIAN,  AND   HIS  HOPE.  123 

of  Days,  and  they 'brought  him  near  before  him. 
And  there  was  given  him  dominion,  and  glory, 
and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations,  and  lan- 
guages should  serve  him." 

The  second  coming  of  Christ  is  also  referred  to 
in  such  texts  as  these  —  "  Behold,  he  cometh  with 
clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  see  him."  He  shall 
come  as  the  lightning  shineth  from  the  east  to  the 
west."  According  to  the  theory  that  the  millen- 
nium precedes  Christ's  advent,  it  ought  to  be,  "  as 
the  light  shineth  from  the  east  to  the  west;"  but  it 
is  not  the  growing  light,  but,  "  the  lightning  flash," 
instant — unexpected.  So  shall  it  be  with  the  com- 
ing of  the  Son  of  Man.  In  the  prophet  Zechariah, 
sixth  chapter,  we  read  —  "  Behold  the  man  whose 
name  is  The  Branch  ;  and  he  shall  grow  up  out 
of  his  place,  and  he  shall  build  the  temple  of  the 
Lord :  even  he  shall  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord, 
and  he  shall  bear  the  glory,  and  shall  sit  and  rule 
upon  his  throne :  and  he  shall  be  a  priest  upon  his 
throne :  and  the  counsel  of  peace  shall  be  upon 
them  both."  And  again,  in  the  fourteenth  chapter 
of  Zechariah,  at  the  ninth  verse — "And  the  Lord 
shall  be  King  over  all  the  earth :  in  that  day  there 
shall  be  one  Lord,  and  his  name  one."  So  also — 
"  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with 
a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with 
the  trump  of  God :  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall 
rise  first :  then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall 
be  caught  up  together  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the 
Lord  in  the  air ;  and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the 


124  SIGNS    OF   THE  TIMES. 

Lord."  But,  some  say,  th'ese  predictions  of  the 
advent  of  Christ  may  be  legitimately  construed  as 
■  purely  spiritual.  I  would  ask  of  those  that  think 
so.  Is  there  a  promise  in  the  whole  Bible  that  Christ 
will  come  personally?  If  you  insist  upon  these 
prophecies  being  figurative  only,  or  spiritual,  and 
not  literal,  then  there  is  not  a  text  in  the  whole 
word  of  God  that  will  satisfy  you  that  Christ  will 
personally  come  at  all.  Consequently,  the  texts  I 
have  read  do  not  denote  a  sphitual,  but  a  personal 
advent.  The  spiritual  Christ  is  come.  The  spi- 
ritual Christ  was  present  when  John  said — "  Come, 
Lord  Jesus ;"  the  spiritual  Christ  was  present  when 
the  Apostles  said  he  would  come,  for  his  own  pro- 
mise is — "Wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of 
them."  And  another  promise  is — "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world."  Christ 
is  spiritually  present  with  his  Church  from  the  com- 
mencement of  this  dispensation,  and,  therefore,  the 
promises  and  prayers  and  expectations  which  relate 
to  his  coming,  not  yet  realized,  must  refer  to  his 
personal,  not  to  the  spiritual  advent, which  is  already 
felt  and  experienced  by  us. 

According  to  the  theor}^  that  the  millennium 
precedes  Christ's  advent,  there  is  to  be  1000  years 
of  perfect  joy,  unstained  and  unclouded  sunshine, 
and  then  at  the  end  of  the  1000  years  Christ  is  to 
come;  but,  according  to  the  Apostle,  our  Lord  is 
to  find  the  wheat  mingled  with  the  tares  when  he 
cemes.    He  is  to  find  the  great  apostasy  stretching 


AND   UIS   HOPE.  125 

over  the  earth ;  he  is  to  punish  the  wicked  whom 
he  then  finds  ou  the  earth  with  everlasting  punish- 
ment. 

To  show  still  further  what  takes  place  when 
Christ  comes,  we  are  told  by  St  Peter,  that  "  the 
day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night,'* 
Some  w^ill  say  w^e  fix  dates,  but  I  deny  that  we  do 
so  any  more  than  Scripture  does.  Those  that  hold 
the  post-millennial  advent,  fix  dates ;  for  when  500 
years  are  passed  of  the  1000,  they  may  say,  in  500 
years  more  Christ  will  come ;  and  when  975  years 
will  be  elapsed,  they  will  be  able  to  say,  in  25  years 
Christ  will  come.  It  is  the  post-millennial  advo- 
cates who  fix  dates.  I  think,  in  the  matter  of  dates, 
we  can  only  have  some  incidental  glimpses  of  the 
approaching  glory,  scattered  as  early  sunbeams  on 
the  mountain  tops,  to  make  God's  people  gird  up 
their  loins  for  their  Lord's  glorious  appearing,  and 
to  make  them  ready  for  his  coming.  St.  Peter 
says  —  "All  things  shall  pass  away  with  a  great 
noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent 
heat."  And  what  then  are  believers  to  look  for  ? 
"We,  then,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  a 
new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness."  I  gather  from  this  passage,  that 
the  instant  Christ  comes  to  this  w^  orld  —  and  that 
coming  is  not  far  distant — the  earth  will  melt  with 
fervent  heat,  and  the  elements  shall  pass  away, 
and  be  at  once  converted  into  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  There 
is  nothing  improbable  in  this  combustion  and  trans- 
11* 


126  SIGIs^S   OF  THE   TIMES. 

formation.  The  most  accomplished  geologists  have 
now  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  globe  on 
which  we  live  is  merely  a  hard  crust,  and  that  the 
interior  of  this  globe  is  one  rolling  ocean  of  liquid 
fire ;  and  that  the  volcanoes  are  the  occasional 
safety  valves  that  let  out  the  superabundant  pres- 
sure in  the  interior,  and  prevent  a  premature  ex- 
plosion. God  has  only  to  let  loose  the  imprisoned 
fire,  and  the  whole  earth  will  become  calcined  by 
heat,  and  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  will  take 
its  place.  I  mention  this  only  to  show  that  there 
is  nothing  improbable  in  it. 

Laplace,  and  other  great  asti^onomers,  have 
watched  worlds  above,  that  have  successively 
appeared  in  a  state  of  combustion.  Astronomers 
have  seen  stars  begin  first  to  burn  with  red  heat, 
then  reduced  to  a  white  heat,  and  they  have 
watched  until  they  have  been  calcined,  and  have 
entirely  disappeared ;  the  phenomena  of  burning 
worlds  have  been  detected  by  the  telescope  before 
now,  and,  therefore,  we  have  analogies  to  strengthen 
(if  any  strengthening  be  required)  the  prediction 
of  the  Apostle,  that  the  earth  will  be  burned  up, 
and  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  succeed.  I  do 
not  believe  that  this  earth  will  be  annihilated.  This 
globe  was  beautiful  and  fair  when  it  came  from  the 
plastic  hands  of  the  Creator  some  6000  years  ago ; 
and  God  has  only  to  expunge  that  which  mars  and 
disfigures  it, — namely,  sin, — to  make  it  again  the 
same  fair  and  beautiful  globe,  till  its  very  deserts 
rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose.     I  could  take  you 


I 


THE   CHRISTIAN,   AND   HIS  HOPE.  127 

to  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  to  glens  so 
beautiful,  where,  if  I  could  be  assured  that  no  sin 
and  no  tears  should  come,  I  could  consent  to  live 
for  ever.  I  do  not  see  why  God  should  give  up 
this  earth  as  a  hopeless  thing.  There  is  no  reason 
for  its  being  destroyed.  Let  sin  be  expunged,  and 
it  will  close  as  it  commenced,  in  Paradise  and  Eden, 
when  all  was  blessedness  and  joy.  This  earth  is, 
in  all  likelihood,  to  undergo  the  same  process  that 
our  bodies  undergo.  Every  body  becomes  a  lifeless  , 
form  ;  it  must  be  laid  in  the  grave,  the  worm  must 
be  its  brother,  and  corruption  must  be  its  sister ; 
but  out  of  its  disintegrated  elements  God  will  con- 
struct, not  another  body,  but  the  same  identical 
body  without  an  atom  of  sin,  or  disease,  or  decay. 
So  it  will  be  with  this  world.  God  will  not  destroy 
it  and  substitute  another  in  its  place.  He  will  re- 
baptize  it  with  fire,  and  pass  over  it  a  new  genesis, 
and  that  which  is  now  groaning  with  the  burden 
of  sin,  like  a  mother  weeping  at  the  sufferings  of 
her  offspring,  will  rise  regenerated  under  the  rays 
of  the  "  Sun  of  Eighteousness  with  healing  in  his 
wdngs."  I  was  never  made  to  die,  we  were  never 
made  to  have  grey  hairs,  or  pain  in  the  heart,  or 
disease  in  the  frame.  Sin  w^as  introduced  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin.  God  made  us  at  first 
holy,  perfect,  and  happy,  and  till  sin  be  removed, 
and  not  till  then,  can  man  be  holy,  beautiful,  and 
happy  again.  If  you  take  a  man  in  full  health, 
(though  scarcely  possible,  for  the  instant  a  babe  is 
born,  that  instant  it  begins  to  die,)  at  thirty  or 


128  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

forty,  ill  the  prime  of  life,  without  disease,  and  if 
he  could  be  laid  open,  and  an  angel  were  to  see 
him,  not  knowing  the  history  of  humanity,  he 
would  infer  from  the  anatomy,  that  a  machine  so 
exquisitely  made,  the  arrangements  for  waste  and 
supply  so  perfect,  must  go  on  for  ever,  and  ever, , 
and  ever ;  and  if  you  ask  the  philosopher  why  this 
man  dies  and  grows  old,  he  cannot  tell  you ;  there 
is  no  reason  upon  earth  why  you  or  I  should  grow 
old.  It  is  a  mysterious  poison  that  has  crept  into 
our  economy,  and  generated  disease  and  death. 
Let  sin  be  expunged,  remove  the  moral  disease 
incubating  in  the  heart  of  man,  and  he  will  be 
restored  to  a  state  of  holiness,  happiness  and  bealth 
again. 

Many  hold  that  Christ  comes  at  the  death  of  a 
Christian.  I  do  not  think  so ;  he  does  not  then 
come  to  me,  I  go  to  him.  He  sends  for  me,  not 
comes  to  me,  and,  therefore,  to  say  that  Christ 
comes  at  death,  is  a  misconstruing  of  the  texts 
foretelling  his  coming.  The  Scriptures  represent 
that  when  Christ  comes,  instead  of  finding  a  mil- 
lennial earth,  filled  with  happiness,  and  peace,  and 
joy,  he  shall  find  disorganisation,  wickedness,  and 
guilt.  Does  not  this  teach  us  that  instead  of  the 
millennium  preceding  Christ's  advent,  men  will  be 
busily  engaged,  some  in  things  sinful,  and  others 
in  what  is  innocent  in  itself  but  absorbing  in  its 
influences  ?  Many  things  are  sinful  only  in  excess. 
The  love  of  money,  for  instance,  is  a  legitimate 
passion  in  its  subordinate  place.     We  cannot  do 


I 


THE  CHRISTIAN,   AND   HIS   HOPE.  129 

without  money ;  we  cannot  do  without  clothes,  and 
food,  and  therefore  not  without  money ;  when  we 
love  it  in  its  place  we  do  right,  but  when  it  becomes 
the  commanding  passion  it  is  most  destructive.  So 
you  may  love  the  bright  flowers,  and  beautiful  land- 
scape, this  is  all  perfectly  legitimate ;  the  sin  con- 
sists in  the  abuse,  or  in  making  the  love  of  the 
object  the  commanding  passion.  I  believe  that  the 
excessive  love  of  what  is  lawful  ruins  more  souls 
than  the  forbidden  love  of  what  is  sinful.  We 
have  in  the  Scriptures  a  parable  which  divides 
those  who  reject  the  Gospel  of  Christ  into  three 
classes :  one  said — "  I  have  bought  a  yoke  of  oxen, 
and  must  needs  go  to  prove  them."  Now  there 
was  no  sin  in  buying  the  oxen,  but  the  sin  was  in 
loving  them  so  much,  that  the  invitation  of  Christ 
was  rejected.  In  the  other  case  also,  there  was  no 
sin  in  marrying,  but  in  paying  so  much  attention 
to  the  home,  the  w^ife,  and  the  fireside,  that  no  time 
could  be  sacrificed  to  obey  Christ's  gracious  invita- 
tion. So  also  in  the  last  day,  it  will  not  be  so 
much  that  men  will  be  engaged  in  wickedness,  as 
immersed  in  the  inordinate  love  of  things  lawful. 
Just  before  Christ's  coming  we  may  expect  that 
Satan  will  go  forth  with  intense  activity.  Every- 
thing that  is  evil  will  become  charged  with  double 
intensity.  Is  not  everything  already  becoming 
more  and  more  earnest?  Popery  is  intensely 
active;  Puseyism  is  just  the  old  fox-hunting, 
sporting  clergyman  becoming  earnest.  Look  at 
infidelity,  how  it  is  exerting  itself!    Look  at  our 


130  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

divisions,  how  sad !  ]N"evertlieless,  I  believe  there 
is  at  this  moment  in  the  church  of  Christ  universal, 
more  healthy,  real  evangelical  religion  than  there 
ever  has  been  since  the  days  of  the  Reformation. 
In  the  Church  of  England,  with  all  its  division, 
there  is  a  body  of  devout,  spiritual-minded  men, 
that  have  no  precedent  in  any  other  church.  I 
rejoice  that  it  is  so.  I  think  everything  is  becoming 
earnest  and  real;  and  as  the  coming  of  Christ 
nears,  all  men  will  be  in  earnest,  either  in  God's 
or  the  devil's  service.  As  the  time  is  short,  so 
Satan  knows  it.  He  is  aware  that  he  has  but  few 
years  in  which  to  exercise  his  power  in  this  world, 
and  he  will  strive  the  more  to  obtain  a  foot-hold  in 
a  globe  that  is  escaping  from  his  clutches ;  and  if 
he  cannot  secure  the  position  he  covets,  he  will  try 
to  victimize  and  make  captives  of  all  that  he  can. 
Look  at  the  political  world.  What  is  the  state  of 
Europe  at  the  present  time  ?  It  is  one  surging 
volcano.  Look  at  China,  seething  in  revolution. 
See  France,  trembling  for  its  imperial  destinies. 
Look  at  Russia  —  already  come,  probably  the 
ancient  Magog,  into  Europe,  and  to  fight  his  last 
battle  in  the  midst  of  Palestine  before  the  end 
comes.  Look  at  Turkey  —  prophecy  pointing  to 
this  time  as  the  probable  period  when  the  Euphra- 
tes is  to  be  dried  up.  Look  at  Rome,  which  at  this 
very  moment  would  not  contain  the  Pope  ten 
minutes,  if  it  were  not  for  the  6,000  French  sol- 
diers there :  a  third  of  the  population  of  Rome  are 
Protestants  religiously,  if  they  dare  avow  it ;  and 


TnE  CHRISTIAN,   AND  HIS  HOPE.  131 

another  third  are  radicals  and  revolutionists,  ready 
to  npset  the  present  state  of  things  if  they  could. 
And  this  is  the  model  city!  the  modern  Eome; 
that  ought  to  present  a  magnificent  spectacle  of 
unity  and  peace:  where  the  Pope,  its  sovereign, 
would  not  be  secure  ten  minutes,  if  the  6,000 
French  bayonets  were  to  be  withdrawn.  The 
Thirty-nine  Articles  are  surely  as  good  as  these  to 
keep  a  nation  in  its  place  any  day.  The  cities  of 
the  nations  are  also  predicted  to  fall.  Now  I  believe 
that  as  "the  great  city"  was  the  politico-ecclesias- 
tical institution  of  the  Church  of  Eome,  the  cities 
of  the  nations  are  our  established  churches.  I  do 
not  say  I  wush  them  to  fall ;  I  have  no  sympathy 
with  those  who  try  to  subvert  them ;  for  I  believe, 
in  my  conscience,  a  national  church  to  be  a  great 
ordinance  of  God,  and  that  it  is  duty  to  maintain 
and  support  it ;  but  too  plainly  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, as  an  ecclesiastical  institution,  trembles  on 
the  very  verge  of  its  disorganization.  The  Church 
of  Scotland  suffered  a  great  expenditure  of  its 
strength  in  1843,  when  a  number  of  excellent  men 
supposed  it  their  duty  to  secede  from  it;  both 
churches  are  at  this  moment  weakened  consider- 
ably, and  I  believe,  as  civil  and  endowed  institu- 
tions, they  will  be  wickedly  but  hopelessly  broken 
up.  All  churches  are  about  to  be  equally  dissolved ; 
Methodism  is  fast  breaking  up ;  Independency  is  to 
be  shattered ;  and  the  Baptists  will  not  be  spared. 
This  great  disorganization  of  existing  institutions 
is  the  disintegration  of  the  component  elements,  in 


132  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

order  to  form  a  new  and  glorious  combination  —  a 
church  where  there  shall  be  no  more  division,  where 
there  shall  be  neither  Churchmen  nor  Dissenters, 
but  Christ  and  Christian  shall  be  all  in  all. 

I  have  thus  showm,  first,  that  Christ's  advent  is 
the  prominent  hope  of  the  Church  of  God ;  secondly, 
that  his  advent  is  a  personal  one  ;  and,  thirdly,  that 
the  millennial  day  succeeds,  and  does  not  precede, 
the  advent  of  Christ,  just  as  the  light  follows  the 
sun,  and  does  not  precede  it ;  and,  lastlj^,  I  have 
shown  from  the  signs  of  the  times,  that  this  advent 
is  near  at  hand,  and  that  it  becomes  all  to  make 
ready  for  the  coming  of  our  blessed  Lord.  Let  us 
now  look  more  earnestly  for  the  appearing  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  cease  to  quarrel.  When  our 
Lord  comes,  there  will  instantly  take  place  a  resur- 
rection of  the  dead  in  Christ.  I  am  going  to  state 
what  some  will  not  agree  with.  I  hold  that  when 
Christ  comes  at  the  commencement  of  the  millen- 
nium, all  believers  that  have  died  in  Christ — from 
Adam  down  to  the  b^be  that  perished  yesterday 
from  its  mother's  bosom  —  the  dead  in  Christ  will 
instantly  rise.  All  believers  then  living  will 
instantly  be  gathered  together  with  them  — and 
both  the  dead  in  Christ  who  rise  from  the  earth, 
and  the  living  in  Christ  who  do  not  die,  but  are 
changed,  shall  be  caught  up  in  the  air,  and  shall 
there  remain  until  the  earth  has  undergone  the  last 
fiery  baptism,  just  as  the  family  of  E'oah  w^as  kept 
in  the  ark.  The  rest  of  the  dead  will  not  rise  until 
the  thousand  years  are  finished.     The  resurrection 


THE   CHRISTIAN,   AND   HIS  HOPE.  133 

of  the  dead  in  Christ,  that  is,  of  all  true  believers, 
takes  place  at  the  commencement  of  the  millen- 
nium ;  and  if  so,  by  this  one  fact  it  is  established, 
that  Christ's  advent  is  pre-millennial,  and  not  post- 
millennial.  We  read  in  the  20th  chapter  of  the 
Revelation, — '^And  1  saw  an  angel  come  down 
from  heaven,  havi»g  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit 
and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand.  And  he  laid  hold 
of  the  dragon,  that  old  serpent,  which  is  the  Devil, 
and  Satan,  and  bound  him  a  thousand  years,  and 
cast  him  into  the  bottomless  pit,  and  shut  him  up, 
and  set  a  seal  upon  him,  that  he  should  deceive 
the  nations  no  more,  till  the  thousand  years  should 
be  fulfilled,  and  after  that  he  must  be  loosed  a  little 
season.  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon 
them,  and  judgment  was  given  unto  them :  and  I 
saw  the  souls  of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the 
witness  of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and 
which  had  not  worshipped  the  beast,  neither  his 
image,  neither  had  received  his  mark  upon  their 
foreheads,  or  on  their  hands ;  and  they  lived  and 
reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years.  But  the 
rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again  until  a  thousand 
years  were  finished."  Some  hold  that  the  first 
resurrection  that  takes  place  at  the  commencement 
of  the  millennium  is  a  spiritual  or  figurative  resur- 
rection, and  not  a  personal  one.  Both  Mr.  Barnes 
and  Mr.  Brown  hold  this  view,  and  quote  prophecy 
in  support  of  it,  as,  for  instance,  the  37th  chapter 
of  Ezekiel,  where  we  read, — "  Therefore  prophesy 
and  say. unto  them,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God: 
12 


184  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

Behold,  0  my  people,  I  will  open  your  graves,  and 
cause  you  to  come  up  out  of  your  graves,  and 
bring  you  into  the  land  of  Israel."  In  the  same 
manner  there  is  a  similar  prophecy  in  Hosea,  where 
the  resurrection  is  spoken  of,  at  the  6th  chapter 
and  the  2d  verse,  where  we  read, — "  After  two  days 
will  he  revive  us :  in  the  third  day  he  will  raise  us 
up,  and  we  shall  live  in  his  sight."  'Now,  Mr. 
Barnes  rests  upon  this  as  a  proof  that  the  rising  of 
the  dead  spoken  of  in  the  20th  chapter  of  the  Eeve- 
lation  is  used  in  a  figurative  sense.  My  answer  to 
him  would  be  this  :  —  The  death  and  resurrection 
spoken  of  in  the  prophecies  quoted,  are  expressly 
stated  to  be  figurative.  In  Ezekiel  the  death  is 
figurative,  and  therefore  the  resurrection  is  so ;  but 
the  death  in  the  Apocalypse  is  literal,  and  there- 
fore the  resurrection  is  so  also.  For  if  the  death 
be  literal,  as  it  undoubtedly  is,  then  the  resurrection 
must  be  literal  also.  But  again,  it  is  said  that  the 
rest  of  the  dead  live  not  until  the  thousand  years  are 
finished.  This  is  universally  conceded  to  be  literal, 
but  the  first  resurrection  is  part  of  it ;  therefore 
these  resurrections  must  be  both  literal.  Our  Lord 
when  he  speaks  of  the  seven  candlesticks  adds 
their  meaning,  "  The  seven  candlesticks  which 
thou  seest  are,  i.  e.  represent,  the  seven  churches." 
So  this  is,  i.  e.  explains,  the  first  resurrection. 
Throughout  the  New  Testament  we  read  of  two 
resurrections.  In  Luke  xiv.  14  we  read, — "For 
thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of 
the  just."     Again,  in  Luke  xx.  35, — "But  they 


135 

which  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that 
world,  and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,"  or,  as 
it  ought  to  have  been  translated,  that  we  should  be 
counted  worthy  of  obtaining  that,  i,  e.  pre-eminent 
resurrection  from  among  the  dead.  St.  Paul  says, 
— "  K  by  any  means  I  might  attain  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead,"  or,  as  it  should  read,  "from 
among  the  dead."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
there  are  two  resurrections  spoken  of,  and  that  the 
resurrection  of  the  saints  is  the  first  and  previous 
to  the  millennium,  and  the  resurrection  that  is  last 
is  after  the  millennium.  In  Eomans  viii.  we  have 
a  beautiful  illustrative  passage, — "For  we  know 
that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  together  until  now,  waiting  the  redemption 
of  the  body"  as  its  restoration.  The  Apostle 
speaks  of  nature  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain, 
waiting  till  she  brings  forth  that  new  and  beautiful 
heaven, — "the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  "We  have  no 
idea  now,  I  may  remark,  of  the  stores  of  beauty 
and  magnificence  treasured  up  in  the  bosom  of 
this  earth.  You  would  hardly  believe  that  the 
different  varieties  of  roses  are  merely  the  old 
hedge  rose  subjected  to  artistic  cultivation ;  and 
if  man  can  bring  forth  by  his  skill  such  magnificent 
objects  from  nature,  how  beautiful  will  nature's 
roses  and  blossoms  be  when  the  repressing  curse 
under  which  all  nature  is  groaning  and  travailing 
shall  be  removed! 
When  Christ  comes,  then  shall  be  realized  the 


136  SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES. 

prophecy  of  the  woman's  seed  as  the  destroyer  of 
the  serpent.  Christ  came  into  the  world  not  to 
destroy  the  works  of  God,  hut  to  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil,  as  it  is  so  beautifully  expressed  in  one 
of  the  Collects  in  the  Prayer-Book :  "0  God, 
whose  blessed  Son  was  manifested  that  he  might 
destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  make  us  the 
sons  of  God,  and  heirs  of  eternal  life ;  Grant  us, 
we  beseech  thee,  that,  having  this  hope,  we  may 
purify  ourselves,  even  as  he  is  pure ;  that  when  he 
shair  appear  again  with  power  and  great  glory,  we 
may  be  made  like  unto  him  in  his  eternal  and  glo- 
rious kingdom ;  where  with  thee,  0  Father,  and 
thee,  0  Holy  Ghost,  he  liveth  and  reigneth,  ever 
one  God,  world  without  end.  Amen."  "When 
Christ  comes  Satan's  head  shall  be  finally  bruised, 
and  he  shall  no  longer  trample  or  triumph  over 
this  world.  The  triumphs  of  Messiah  shall  be  fully 
realized,  when  he  shall  present  to  his  Father  a  glo- 
rious and  complete  church,  without  spot  or  blemish 
or  any  such  thing.  His  promises  with  regard  to 
his  own  peculiar  people,  the  Jews,  shall  then  be 
accomplished,  for  they  shall  be  restored  to  their 
owii  land.  "When  Christ  comes  we  shall  meet  all 
that  fell  asleep  in  Christ,  all  that  believe  with  us 
in  him  as  our  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King.  We  shall 
be  raised,  and  you,  dear  reader,  shall  know  me, 
and  I  shall  know  you,  more  distinctly  than  we  now 
recognise  each  other.  It  will  be  the  general  assem- 
bly of  the  church  of  the  First-born,  sitting  down 
with  Abraham,  with  Isaac,  and  with  Jacob,  know- 


THE  CHRISTIAN,   AND  HIS  HOPE.  137 

ing  each  other  even  as  they  also  are  known.  We 
who  have  lost  dear  relatives  shall  have  them  re- 
stored to  us,  and  all  painful  disruptions  shall  he 
healed ;  and  we  who  have  wept  here  on  earth  shall 
rejoice  in  joining  with  our  friends  in  singing  the 
praises  of  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.  When 
Christ  comes,  this  earth,  which  is  now  an  island 
struck  off  from  the  continent  of  glory,  shall  be  re- 
stored to  its  proper  place  from  which  it  was  origi- 
nally broken,  and  God  shall  be  with  men,  and 
dwell  with  us,  and  we  shall  dwell  with  him  for 
ever.  Then  there  shall  be  *'no  more  tears,  nor 
sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more 
pain."  There  shall  be  no  more  death,  no  night, 
no  mistakes,  no  heart-burnings,  no  griefs  to  feel, 
nor  fears  to  beat  away.  There  will  then  and  there 
begin  the  lasting  reign  of  perfect  holiness,  and 
therefore  of  perfect  happiness;  w^e  shall  see  no 
more  of  the  presence  or  the  power  of  corruption  ; 
we  shall  rise  no  more  clothed  with  corruptible  flesh 
and  blood,  but  endued  with  bodies  incorruptible, 
immortal,  and  radiant  with  glory ;  and  then  shall 
be  brought  to  pass  the  saying,  "  Death  is  swallowed 
up  in  victory." 

Bat  for  a  full  and  joyous  view  of  all  the  future 
glory,  we  must  refer  to  those  magnificent  sketches, 
the  twenty-first  and  twenty-second  chapters  of  Re- 
velation. There  we  find  the  sure  prophecy  of  the 
removal  of  all  that  disturbs,  and  the  introduction 
of  all  that  glorifies.  The  sorrows  and  the  imper- 
fections of  the  present  are  there  seen  retiring  like 
12* 


138  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

clouds,  and  the  full  sunshine  of  everlasting  day 
pouring  down  upon  a  restored  and  regenerated 
earth.  All  old  things  are  passed  away,  and  all 
things  are  become  new.  The  sorrows  of  the  past 
are  merged  in  the  enjoyments  of  an  everlasting 
present.  Recollections  of  scenes  and  events  once 
painful,  will  sei've  to  augment  the  joys,  and  heighten 
the  bliss  of  an  experience  that  accumulates  in  peace, 
and  joy,  and  brilliancy  for  ever.  The  Christian  has 
a  noble  destiny  before  him,  and  a  blessed  hope 
within  him ;  his  is  a  goodly  heritage ;  his  is  a  hope 
that  maketh  not  ashamed.  The  future,  in  its  rela- 
tion to  the  present,  will  be  absolute  contrast,  not 
comparison.  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  its 
deep  things.  * 

**  No  sickness  there  ; 
No  weary  wasting  of  the  frame  away ; 
No  fearful  shrinking  from  the  midnight  air ; 
No  dread  of  summer's  bright  and  fervid  ray. 

*'  Care  has  no  home 
"Within  that  realm  of  ceaseless  praise  and  song ; 
Its  tossing  billows  break  and  melt  in  foam, 
Far  from  the  mansions  of  the  spirit  throng. 

"  No  wither'd  flower, 
Or  blasted  bud,  celestial  gardens  know  ; 
No  scorching  blast,  or  fierce  descending  shower, 
Scatters  destruction  like  a  ruthless  foe. 

**  No  hidden  grief. 
No  wild  and  cheerless  vision  of  despair, 
No  vain  petitions  for  a  swift  relief. 
No  tearful  eyes,  no  broken  hearts  are  there." 


HIS  RUIN  AND  RESTORATION.        139 


IV. 


HIS   RUIN  AND   RESTORATION. 


The  prophecies  in  the  Gospels  relating  to  the 
Jews  are  signs  in  every  century  of  this  dispensa- 
tion. But  the  hopes  that  hegin  to  bud  from  every 
branch  of  this  withered  fig-tree  are  indications  of 
its  returning  vitality,  and  of  our  arrival  at  the  eve 
of  a  new  dispensation.  We  have  said  something 
about  the  recent  movement  among  the  Jews  in  the 
first  Lecture.  Let  us  retrace  their  ruin,  so  soon  to 
end  in  their  restoration.  Jesus  said,  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  ago,  "  And  they  shall  fall  by  the  edge 
of  the  sword,  and  shall  be  led  away  captive  into 
all  nations :  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down 
of  the  Gentiles,  until  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be 
fulfilled."    Luke  xxi.  24. 

There  is  here  stated  the  prophecy  of  the  utter 
dispersion,  degradation,  and  protracted  suffering 
of  the  Jew,  in  all  the  nations  and  countries  of  the 
earth.  There  is  also  predicted  no  less  clearly  what 
has  been  actually  fulfilled,  —  the  entire  desolation 
of  their  illustrious  capital,  the  overthrow  of  their 
holy  temple,  and  so  fur  the  removal  of  that  central 
column,  the  glory  and  rallying-place  of  the  Jew, 
to  which,  with  unfaltering  fidelity,  he  still  looks 
from  every  land,  and  along  every  age  of  the  world. 


140  SIGNS  OF  THE   TIMES. 

Let  US  study  the  prediction  of  tlie  utter  downfall 
of  the  illustrious  capital,  its  sacred  temple,  and  all 
the  glory  of  that  place  that  was  once  the  joy  of  the 
whole  earth.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  took 
place,  as  predicted  in  the  sacred  page,  and  recorded 
in  the  annals  of  the  Jewish  historian,  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago.  Titus,  the  Eoman  general, 
pitched  his  camp  amid  the  ruins  of  the  temple,  on 
the  very  spot  where  the  mercy-seat  and  the  ark, 
and  the  glory  and  the  cherubim  were,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  70 ;  and  of  all  the  worshippers  that 
were  wont  to  congregate  under  the  roof  of  that 
magnificent  fane,  Josephus  states  that  there  were 
left  on  its  site,  in  his  days,  a  handful  of  old  and 
venerable  rabbis,  whg  wept,  and  prayed,  and  kissed 
the  very  stones  and  ruins  of  their  loved  and  now 
lost  temple.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  138,  by  order 
of  the  Roman  emperor  Adrian,  there  was  set  up, 
in  order  to  insult  the  Jews,  a  marble  hog,  the  un- 
clean animal  always  thought  by  the  Gentiles  most 
obnoxious  to  the  Jews ;  and  in  order  efiectually  to 
disperse  the  Jews,  as  if  he  undertook  to  fulfil  the 
prophecy,  and  leave  them  not  the  least  discernible 
trace  of  the  site  of  their  city,  he  ordered  it  to  be 
again  ploughed  up,  and  another  city  to  be  built 
upon  its  ruins  called  by  another  name.  For  a  great 
many  years  the  very  name  Jerusalem  was  not  ap- 
plied to  the  town  that  stood  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
ancient  city  and  royal  home  of  David.  It  is  even 
doubtful  at  this  moment  if  the  walls  and  houses  in 
Jerusalem  contain,  in  a  single  instance,  a  solitary 


THE  JEW,   HIS   RUIN  ANt)   RESTORATION.        141 

fragrment  of  the  ancient  walls  and  houses  of  Salem. 
The  only  remains  that  we  can  trace,  as  probably  a 
part  of  its  ancient  gloi-y,  are  the  deep  foundations 
of  a  temple,  near  where  a  Christian  sanctuary  is 
built,  consisting  of  huge  stones  of  enormous  di- 
mensions buried  in  the  debris;  the  corners  of  which 
are  literally  worn  and  wasted  by  the  lips  of  the 
rabbis,  that  come  on  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  and 
still  kiss  the  stones  of  their  ancient  temple.  In 
their  deepest  degradation  "  her  people  take  plea- 
sure in  her  stones ;  her  very  dust  to  them  is  dear." 
The  mosque  of  Omar  was  subsequently  erected  by 
the  Mahometans,  on  what  they  supposed  the  site 
of  the  ancient  temple :  and  during  the  Crusades, 
when  the  nations  that  denied  a  living  Christ  rushed 
to  rescue  the  tomb  of  a  dead  Christ,  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem  were  literally  deluged  with  blood ;  and 
since  that  day  the  hoofs  of  the  Arab's  steed,  the 
Mameluke  cavalry,  and  the  bare  feet  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  monk  have  continued  to  tread  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  desecrate  the  dust  of 
Abraham  and  Sarah  beneath  the  oaks  of  Mamre ; 
and  the  bones  of  Joseph  resting  in  the  hopes  of  a 
sure  and  a  certain  resurrection.  And  whilst  all 
these  insults  have  been  inflicted  on  Jerusalem  for  a 
very  long  course  of  years,  the  Jew  has  not  been 
suffered  to  live  in  it :  in  his  own  city  the  Jew  is 
now  literally  the  stranger.  All  religions  —  Greek, 
Roman,  and  Mahometan — have  united  for  eighteen 
hundred  years  in  keeping  the  Jew  out  of  Jerusa- 
lem, as  predicted  in  the  prophets ;  and  the  Jews  at 


142  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

this  day  present  the  spectacle  of  a  people  without 
a  home — a  nation  without  a  country.  It  has  only 
been  during  the  last  thirty  years  (and  here  is  the 
budding  of  the  fig-tree)  that  any  number  of  Jews 
have  been  allowed  to  live  in  Jerusalem,  and  to  be- 
gin to  find  homes  and  raise  houses  in  the  midst  of 
it,  and  to  walk  again  the  streets  consecrated  by  the 
feet  of  illustrious  pilgrims,  and  to  breathe  the  air 
that  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  the  world's  grey 
fathers  breathed  many  thousand  years  before. 

lS[ot  only  has  their  capital  been  thus  destroyed, 
but  in  every  country  to  which  the  Jew  has  been 
driven,  he  continues  a  sufferer.  In  Switzerland, 
the  land  of  freedom,  and  of  mountain  and  of  glen, 
the  Jew  has  drunk  the  bitter  cup  of  sorrow.  In 
Russia  he  is  treated  as  a  serf;  and  when  the  auto- 
crat wants  to  augment  his  army,  or  to  indulge  his 
taste,  it  is  the  wretched  but  rich  Jews  that  must 
pay  the  price  and  bear  the  penalty  of  it.  In  Spain 
he  is  hunted  like  a  wild  beast.  In  Italy,  and  chiefly 
in  Eome,  he  is  driven  into  a  horrid  den  called  the 
ghetto :  the  only  respite  that  he  enjoyed  was  when 
the  Eoman  republic  was  in  force ;  and  naturally  he 
longs  and  waits  for  that  day  when  the  ecclesiastical 
despotism  that  now  crushes  him  shall  be  broken 
into  fragments,  and  Israel  shall  again  be  free,  and 
Christians  have  liberty  to  worship  God,  with  none 
to  make  them  afraid.  The  Jew  reads  the  28th 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy  in  his  synagogues,  and 
feels  too  keenly  that  every  curse  predicted  against 


THE  JEW,   HIS  RUIN  AND   RESTORATION.       143 

him  in  that  chapter  has  been  literally  executed. 
No  sign  is  so  eloquent  as  the  Jew  on  our  streets. 

I  turn  from  the  capital  and  its  inhabitants  to  the 
countiy  itself— to  Palestine.  What  is  its  state  now  ? 
Once  it  was  a  land  that  overflowed  with  milk  and 
with  honey ;  its  gardens  rising  in  successive  tiers 
into  every  zone  and  climate.  On  the  mountain 
ranges  of  Lebanon  grew  the  fruits  of  every  coun- 
try, and  of  every  latitude  of  the  globe.  It  was 
once  the  most  fertile  and  prolific  of  all  lands,  as  it 
is  still  the  most  beautifully  situated.  But  since  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem  what  has  been  its  state  ?  The 
earthquake  has  its  home  in  Palestine ;  the  very  sea 
— the  Mediterranean — ebbs  from  its  shores,  as  if  it 
felt  weary  with  touching  them.  Its  cities  are  become 
tombs;  its  population  is  drying  up;  the  Arab  plun- 
derer roams  in  every  valley ;  its  once  beautiful  trees 
and  tiers  of  gardens  have  been  washed  by  the  rains 
till  the  bare  rock  is  all  that  remains;  the  eagle 
screams  amid  its  solitary  recesses,  and  the  owl 
hoots  in  its  wild  and  desolate  parts.  Palestine  is 
at  this  moment  an  illustration  and  specimen  of  a 
land  that  God  Almighty  has  cursed,  a  desert 
attesting  the  truth  of  God's  word,  yet  pregnant 
with  a  glorious  Eden.  Chateaubriand,  the  cele- 
brated French  traveller,  and  not  at  all  disposed 
towards  the  view  that  we  take  of  the  destiny  of  the 
Jews  and  the  hopes  of  Jerusalem,  thus  speaks  of 
it:  — 

"  This  portion  of  the  country  is  so  shockingly 
barren,  that  it  does  not  even  possess  the  semblance 


144  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES. 

of  a  bit  of  moss.  One  can  only  discover  here  and 
there  some  tufts  of  thorny  plants,  as  pale  as  the 
soil  that  produced  them,  and  covered  with  dust, 
like  the  trees  on  the  sides  of  our  highways  during 
summer.  The  mountains  present  the  same  appear- 
ance, clothed  in  wdiite  dust,  without  a  shade,  with- 
out a  tree,  destitute  of  herbage,  and  not  even  pos- 
sessing a  scrap  of  moss.  If  I  should  live  a  thou- 
sand years  I  never  can  forget  that  desert  (where 
Jerusalem  first  appeared),  and  which  seemed  still 
inspired  with  the  majesty  of  Jehovah,  and  the 
frightful  terrors  of  death.  The  country,  which  up 
to  this  moment  had  still  preserved  something  like 
verdure,  now  became  barren.  The  sides  of  the 
mountains  expanded,  and  assumed  a  more  sterile 
and  sublime  appearance.  Soon  after  all  vegetation 
disappeared,  not  a  blade  of  grass  could  be  discerned. 
The  amphitheatre  of  mountains  was  then  tinted  as 
with  a  red  and  burning  colour.  We  travelled 
laboriously  for  an  hour  amid  these  mournful 
regions,  to  attain  the  summit  of  a  hill  at  a  distance 
before  us.  Arriving  here,  we  rode  for  another  hour 
upon  an  elevated  and  naked  plain,  sown  as  it  were 
with  rounded  masses  of  stone.  Suddenly,  at  the 
extremity  of  this  plain,  I  perceived  a  line  of  gothic 
walls  flanked  wdth  square  towers,  enclosing  appa- 
rently the  roofs  of  some  buildings.  At  the  foot  of 
these  w^alls  appeared  a  camp  of  Turkish  cavalry  in 
all  their  oriental  pomp.  The  guide  exclaimed, 
*  Behold  the  holy  city  !  Behold  Jerusalem !'  We 
perceived  Jerusalem  through  an  opening  in  the 


THE   JEW,   HIS   RUIN  AND   RESTORATION.       145 

mountains.  I  did  not  at  first  know  what  it  was,  as 
I  believed  it  to  be  only  a  mass  of  shattered  rocks. 
The  sudden  apparition  of  this  city  of  desolations  in 
the  midst  of  such  wasted  solitudes  had  something 
about  it  altogether  fearful.  She  was  there  indeed, 
the  queen  of  the  desert.  When  a  traveller  enters 
into  Judea,  a  great  lassitude  rises  upon  the  spirits. 
But  when  in  passing  from  one  solitude  to  another, 
and  space  stretches  in  limitless  expanse  around,  by 
degrees  this  weight  on  his  mind  is  removed,  and  a 
sacred  awe  is  felt,  which,  far  from  depressing  the 
soul,  gives  a  fortitude  to,  and  elevates  the  powers 
of  the  mind.  The  most  extraordinary  forms  of 
objects  declare  it  to  be  on  all  sides  a  country  which 
has  groaned  under  miracles.  The  burning  sun,  the 
fierce  eagle,  the  barren  fig-tree,  all  the  poetry  and 
all  the  painting  of  the  Scripture  are  here.  Every 
local  name  retains  within  it  some  mystery,  every 
cavern  speaks  of  futuritj^,  each  rocky  height  rever- 
berates the  accents  of  some  prophecy.  God  him- 
self has  spoken  within  its  borders.  The  wasted 
rivers,  the  cloven  rocks,  the  yawning  tombs  attest 
the  prodigy.  The  desert  seems  still  stricken  dumb 
with  terror,  and  as  if  it  had  not  yet  dared  to  break 
that  silence  which  was  felt  when  the  voice  of  the 
Eternal  had  been  heard.  Those  who  come  as 
strange  Jews  to  live  in  Jerusalem  live  but  a  short 
time.  And  those  who  are  in  Palestine  are  so  poor 
as  to  be  obliged  every  year  to  send  a  begging  mis- 
sion for  alms,  amongst  their  brethren  in  Egypt  and 
Barbary.  The  surrounding  country  is  frightful, 
13 


146  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES. 

On  every  side  are  naked  mountains,  of  rounded 
summits  or  terminating  in  broad  plains;  whilst 
many  of  them,  at  greater  distances,  assume  the 
appearance  of  ruined  castles  or  mosques.  These 
mountains  are  not  so  wedged  together  as  not  to 
present  intervals  through  which  the  spectator 
beholds  other  scenes ;  but  by  these  openings  you 
only  can  discover  plains  covered  with  rocks  like 
those  which  are  immediately  in  front." 

He  thus  describes  the  valley  of  Sodom:  "The 
valley  contained  within  these  two  chains  of  moun- 
tains looks,  in  its  soil,  like  the  bottom  of  a  sea, 
from  which  the  water  had  for  a  length  of  time  re- 
ceded, made  up  of  long  reaches  of  salt,  an  expanse 
of  dried  mud,  and  shifting  beds,  furrowed  as  it 
were  by  the  waves.  Here  and  there  wretched 
shrubs  grow  with  difficulty  in  a  soil  deprived  of 
vitality;  their  leaves  are  enervated  with  the  salt 
which  has  nourished  them,  and  their  bark  has  the 
smell  and  taste  of  smoke.  Instead  of  villages,  the 
ruins  of  a  few  towers  are  perceived.  Through  the 
body  of  the  valley  a  discoloured  river  flows,  and 
moves  slowly  and  with  painful  regret  towards  that 
pestiferous  lake  in  w^hich  it  is  utterly  lost.  Its 
course  is  alone  distinguished,  in  the  midst  of  the 
sand,  by  the  reeds  and  willows  which  grow  on  its 
margin ;  whilst  the  Arab  conceals  himself  amongst 
these  reeds  to  attack  the  traveller  and  plunder  the 
pilgrim.  Such  is  the  river  Jordan !  And  this 
lake  is  the  Dead  Sea.  It  appears  to  sparkle ;  but 
the   guilty  towns   concealed   in   its   bosom  have 


147 

poisoned  its  waters.  The  solitary  depths  afford  a 
home  to  scarcely  any  living  creature, —  no  vessel 
(until  lately)  has  ever  floated  on  its  waves ;  its 
banks  are  without  birds,  without  trees;  have  no 
green  herbage;  and  its  water,  painfully  bitter  to 
the  taste,  is  so  heavy  that  the  most  violent  winds 
are  scarcely  able  to  produce  any  agitation  on  its 
surface.  A  crust  of  salt  covers  the  sand  of  the 
valley,  and  looks  like  a  field  of  snow,  from  whence 
spring  some  few  disjointed  shrubs.  Places  held 
sacred  by  both  Jew  and  Mahometan,  are  now  the 
resort  of  wild  beasts  and  robbere.  Fear  attends 
the  traveller,  and  he  marches  through  them  in 
haste  and  trepidation,  with  his  fire-arms  loaded,  and 
his  life  in  his  hand." 

Such  is  Chateaubriand's  description  of  Palestine 
as  it  now  is.  We  ask,  if  the  words  of  the  traveller 
thus  acquainted  personally  with  Jerusalem  be  not 
the  very  echo  of  the  prophecy  pronounced  by  our 
Lord  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  ?  Jiiterally,  the 
house  of  the  Jew  has  been  left  unto  him  desolate ; 
literally,  one  stone  does  not  stand  upon  another  of  his 
illustrious  Temple ;  and  literally,  that  land  which* 
Moses  beheld  from  Mount  Pisgah,  and  which  was 
admired  as  the  beauty  and  the  joy  of  the  earth,  the 
garden  of  the  world,  is  now  such  as  it  has  been 
described  by  the  traveller  whose  words  I  have  read 
— a  bleak  desert,  the  haunt  of  the  robber,  the  home 
of  the  Arab  and  the  Ishmaelite,  whose  hand  is 
against  every  man.  It  has  one  feature  only  that 
redeems  its  awful  desolation.    It  is  covered  with 


148  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

prophetic  indications  of  an  approaching  glory,  when 
Jerasalem  shall  again  be  the  world's  metropolis, 
and  Palestine  once  more  a  land  overflowing  with 
milk  and  wdth  honey. 

Whilst  Jerusalem  is  Ihus  laid  low,  and  trodden 
by  the  hoof  of  the  Mameluke  and  the  naked  foot 
of  the  monk,  it  is  however  reserved  for  a  day  of 
restoration  spoken  of  contemporaneous  with  the 
fulness  of  the  times  of  the  Gentiles.  It  shall  be 
trodden  under  foot,  but  not  for  ever, — "until  the 
times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled." 

In  the  prophecy  of  IMicah,  at  the  12th  verse  of 
the  3d  chapter,  there  is  first  narrated  the  desolation 
of  Jerusalem :  "  Therefore  shall  Zion  for  your  sake 
be  ploughed  as  a  field,  and  Jerusalem  shall  become 
heaps,  and  the  mountain  of  the  house  as  the  high 
places  of  the  forest."  Then  notice  what  follows  in 
the  next  verse, — or  the  1st  verse  of  the  4th  chapter: 
"  But.in  the  last  days  it-^hall  come  to  pass,  that  the 
mountain"— what  mountain?  the  mountain  of 
Jerusalem  —  "of  the  house  of  the  Lord  shall  be 
established  in  the  top  of  the  mountains,  and  it 
shall  be  exalted  above  the  hills ;  and  people  shall 
flow  unto  it.  And  many  nations  shall  come,  and 
say.  Come,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the 
Lord,  and  to  the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob :  and 
he  wull  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and  we  will  walk  in 
his  paths :  for  the  law  shall  go  forth  of  Zion,  and 
the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem."  And  when 
shall  this  be  ?  It  shall  be  when  "  Christ  shall  judge 
among  many  people,  and   rebuke  strong  nations 


149 

afar  off:  and  they  shall  heat  their  swords  into 
ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks : 
nation  shall  not  lift  up  a  sword  against  nation, 
neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more.  But  the}^ 
shall  sit  every  man  under  his  vine  and  under  his 
fig-tree;  and  none  shall  make  them  afraid :  for  the 
mouth  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  spoken  it."  Here 
we  find  a  clear  and  irresistible  prediction  of  the 
restoration  of  Jerusalem  as  the  queen  of  capitals,  the 
glory  and  the  beauty  of  the  whole  earth ;  and  we, 
who  now  treat  the  Jew  with  scorn,  use  his  name 
as  a  by-word  to  point  a  tale,  or  give  interest  to  a 
play,  shall  then  be  so  exalted  by  the  moral  magnifi- 
cence of  his  restoration,  that  we  shall  go  from  afar 
up  to  Jerusalem,  to  worship  and  hear  the  praise  of 
Him  who  there  was  crucified,  but  then  glorified 
there  as  our  God,  by  Jew  and  Gentile,  the  God  of 
Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 

Zechariak,  in  his  8th  chapter,  says,  "  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts ;  I  was  jealous  for  Zion  with  great 
jealousy,  and  I  was  jealous  for  her  with  great  fury. 
Thus  saith  the  Lord ;  I  am  returned  unto  Zion,  and 
will  dwell  in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem :  and  Jerusa- 
lem shall  be  called  a  city  of  truth ;  and  the  moun- 
tain of  the  Lord  of  hosts  the  holy  mountain.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts ;  There  shall  yet  old  men 
and  old  women  dwell  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem, 
and  every  man  with  his  staff  in  his  hand  for  very 
age.  And  the  streets  of  the  city  shall  be  full  of 
boys  and  girls  playing  in  the  streets  thereof.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts ;  K  it  be  marvellous  in  the 
13* 


150  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES.     ■ 

eyes  of  the  remnant  of  this  people  in  these  da^'s, 
should  it  also  be  marvellous  in  mine  eyes  ?  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts ; 
Behold,  I  will  save  my  people  from  the  east  coun- 
try, and  from  the  west  country ;  and  I  will  bring 
them,  and  they  shall  dwell  in  the  midst  of  Jerusa- 
lem :  and  they  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be 
their  God,  in  truth  and  in  righteousness."  These 
words  were  written  by  Zechariah,  not  during  the 
captivity  in  Babylon,  when  one  might  possibly  say 
that  the  restoration  to  their  own  country  w^as  some- 
thing like  a  portion  of  the  fulfilment  of  it.  This 
w^as  predicted  by  Zechariah  after  the  restoration, 
and  in  relation  to  a  future  and  an  unfulfilled  resto- 
ration, when  the  Jew^  shall  be  carried  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  Gentiles,  —  our  locomotives  shall 
carry  them,  and  our  money  shall  be  expended  in 
doing  it.  I  have  this  hope  of  our  native  land,  that 
England,  or,  as  I  must  now,  as  my  countrymen 
correct  me,  say  Britain,  shall  play  the  most  illus- 
trious part  in  the  restoration  of  the  eTews  to  their 
own  land,  and  in  establishing  them  in  the  country 
where  their  fathers  dwelt  before  them. 

The  Jews  therefore  will  go  to  Jerusalem  before 
their  conversion,  build  their  temple,  revive  the 
sacrifices  of  Levi ;  and  in  the  midst  of  all,  their 
minds  will  be  enlightened,  and  their  hearts  will 
be  converted  to  the  Lord. 

The  time  when  this  shall  take  place  is  called 
"when  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  fulfilled." 
As  preparatory  to  this,  we  may  expect,  as  an  inci- 


THE  JEW,   HIS  RUIN  AND  RESTORATION.       151 

pient  sign  of  the  approaching  restoration,  what  is 
called  the  budding  of  the  fig-tree.  We  have  seen 
that  it  has  been  during  the  last  thirty  years  only 
that  the  Jew  has  been  suffered  to  live  within  the 
walls  of  the  city  of  his  fathers.  This  is  a  move- 
ment in  the  direction  of  their  fulness.  Amon^  the 
Jews  themselves  there  is  now  a  movement,  and  an 
impulse  unpredecented  in  depth,  intensity,  and 
spread.  "  They,"  says  Zechariah,  "shall  remember 
me  in  far  countries;  and  they  shall  live  with  their 
children  and  turn  again."  Then  he  represents 
them  very  strikingly :  "  They  shall  call  upon  me, 
and  I  will  hear  them;  and  I  will  say,  It  is  my 
people. ' '  How  exquisitely  beautiful  is  that !  * '  They 
shall  call  upon  me ;"  and  as  if  I  had  just  discovered 
them  that  had  been  buried  amid  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  I  will  instantly,  when  I  hear  their  cry,  look 
down  upon  the  petitioners,  and  I  will  exclaim,  in  a 
burst  of  joy,  "  This  is  my  people."  The  Jews  at 
this  moment  are  less  immersed  in  Kabbinism  than 
they  ever  were.  The  liabbinism  of  the  Jew  is  the 
Popery  of  the  Christian ;  but  their  ablest  minds 
are  becoming  detached  from  it  more  and  more :  a 
spirit  of  inquiry  grows  among  them,  as  their  news- 
papers indicate,  such  as  has  never  been  before. 
Their  hearts  at  this  moment  are  beating  more 
intensely  towards  Jerusalem ;  and  their  desire  for 
political  power  in  this  country  is  only  indicative  of 
'*  their  thirst  for  power  and  political  supremacy,  where 
it  is  their  everlasting  right.  And  should  they  ob- 
tain that  power  amid  the  nations  of  the  Gentiles 


152  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES 

which  they  desire,  it  will  only  stimulate  their  ap- 
petite for  their  true  nationality  and  restoration  to 
Palestine,  and  citizenship  in  Jerusalem.  Hence 
Isaiah  says,  "  They  shall  come  from  the  four  cor- 
ners of  the  earth;"  and  again,  " They  shall  flee  on 
the  shoulders  of  the  Philistines  towards  the  west," 
as  if  large  companies  of  Jews  were  in  the  east. 
" They  shall  come  from  the  land  of  Sin" — that  is, 
the  land  of  China.  It  is  not  impossible  that  the 
Ten  Tribes  may  be  scattered  amid  the  Chinese  at 
this  moment ;  and,  contemporaneous  with  the  dry- 
ing up  of  the  Euphrates  in  the  East,  and. the  dis- 
organization of  the  Chinese  empire,  that  vast  and 
hitherto  impenetrable  territoiy,  may  be  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  in  order  that 
the  imprisoned  captives  of  Israel  may  begin  their 
homeward  march  from  the  Danube,  and  from  the 
borders  of  the  Euphrates,  and  from  every  land, 
east  and  west,  encouraged  and  borne  by  us  to  their 
native  home,  where,  in  their  own  sweet  sunshine, 
and  upon  their  own  consecrated  hills,  they  shall 
worship  the  Prince,  the  Messiah. 

There  is  clearly  predicted,  in  ancient  prophecies, 
a  movement  amid  the  nations  of  the  earth  prepa- 
ratory to  this.  "  Since  thou,"  says  God,  in  Isaiah, 
xliii.,  speaking  to  the  Jews,  "  wast  precious  in  my 
sight,  thou  hast  been  honourable,  and  I  have  loved 
thee :  therefore  will  I  give  men  for  thee,  and  people 
for  thy  life.  Fear  not :  for  I  am  with  thee :  I  will 
bring  thy  seed  from  the  east,  and  gather  thee  from 
the  west ;  I  will  say  to  the  north,  Give  up  ;  and  to 


c^ 


THE   JEW,    HIS   RUIN   AND   RESTORATION.        153 

the  south,  Keep  not  back:  bring  my  sons  from 
far,  and  my  daughters  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth." 

These  words  are  quoted  on  missionary  platforms, 
as  if  they  meant  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles. 
Very  often  the  Jews  get  most  unfair  treatment  on 
Gentile  platforms.  We  take  all  that  is  good  from 
every  prophecy,  and  say,  "  This  is  ours ;"  and  all 
the  calamity  we  hand  over  to  the  Jew,  and  we  say, 
"  That  is  yours."  We  eat  the  sweet  kernel ;  we 
throw  to  the. miserable  Jew  the  shells  and  husks. 
But  if  you  read  Isaiah,  not  after  the  headings  given 
by  our  translators,  you  will  see  that  its  most  bril- 
liant predictions  relate  primarily  to  the  Jews,  though 
our  glory  is  always  associated  with  their  restoration 
and  approaching  grandeur.  So  again  in  Isaiah  Ix. 
— "  Surely  the  isles  shall  wait  for  me,  and  the  ships 
of  Tarshish  first,  to  bring  thy  sons  from  far,  their 
silver  and  their  gold  with  them,  unto  the  name  of 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  to  the  Holy  One  of  Israel, 
because  he  hath  glorified  thee.  And  the  sons  of 
strangei-s  shall  build  up  thy  walls:" — what  walls? 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem  —  "and  their  kings  shall 
minister  unto  thee :  for  in  my  wrath  I  smote  thee, 
but  in  my  favour  have  I  had  mercy  on  thee. 
Therefore  thy  gates  shall  be  open  continually ;  they 
shall  not  be  shut  day  nor  night;  that  men  may 
bring  unto  thee  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles,  and  that 
their  kings  may  be  brought."  We  may  expect 
that  the  nations  of  the  earth  will  begin,  on  the  eve 
of  that  movement  among  the  Jews,  to  discuss  in 


154  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

their  cabinets  the  restoration  of  the  Jews.  There 
are  books  recently  written,  which  urge  on  the 
nations  to  help  them  to  their  own  land.  The  Jews 
in  London  are  collecting  money  in  order  to  pur- 
chase Palestine  at  this  moment:  the  Jews  in 
America  have  collected  enormous  sums  to  build 
the  temple  again  in  Jerusalem.  All  these  things 
are  signs  of  the  times,  and  indications  of  the 
approaching  change. 

When  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  are  fulfilled, 
this  restoration  takes  place.  What  are  those  times? 
As  soon  as  the  last  believer  has  been  gathered  from 
the  mass  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  added  to 
the  company  of  the  church  of  the  redeemed,  the 
times  of  the  Gentiles  will  be  fulfilled.  As  soon  as 
the  Gospel  has  been  preached,  not  to  convert  all 
nations,  but  as  a  witness  to  all  nations,  and  the 
inhabitants  around  the  Pole  have  been  brought 
within  its  sound,  then  the  time  of  the  end  is  at 
hand.  As  soon  as  Mahometanism  expires,  the 
Crescent  wanes,  and  the  mosque  of  the  Moslem 
resounds  with  the  praises  of  the  God  of  Abraham, 
the  times  of  the  Gentiles  will  have  come  to  a  close. 
As  soon  as  the  great  Antichrist  shall  be  over- 
thrown, and  Babylon  shall  sink  like  a  millstone  in 
the  mighty  deep,  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  will  be 
fulfilled.  And  then  the  dry  bones  on  a  thousand 
hills  —  the  bones  of  scattered  Israel  —  shall  be 
clothed  with  flesh,  and  become  an  araiy  of  living 
men.  "If,"  says  the  Apostle  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans,  "  the  fall  of  the  Jews  be  the  riches  of  the 


THE  JEW,  HIS   RUIN   AND   RESTORATION.         155 

world,  and  the  diminishing  of  them  the  riches  of 
-  the  Gentiles,  how  much  more  their  fulness!" 
"When  the  Gentile  nations  shall  see  a  whole  people 
begin  their  march  from  the  east  and  from  the  west, 
in  more  majestic  exodus  than  that  of  their  fore- 
fathers from  Egypt  to  Palestine,  then  will  come 
to  pass  what  the  apostle  predicts  —  that  the  Gen- 
tiles, seeing  the  stupendous  spectacle,  startled  by 
its  splendour  and  magnificence,  will  recognise  the 
truth  they  have  repudiated,  and  nations  be  born 
in  a  day.  "  And,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  we  would 
not  have  you  ignorant,  brethren,  that  blindness  in 
part  has  happened  to  Israel,  until  the  fulness  of 
the  Gentiles  be  come  in.  And  so  all  Israel  shall 
be  saved.  As  concerning  the  gospel,  they  are 
enemies  for  your  sakes ;  but  as  touching  the  elec- 
tion, they  are  beloved  for  the  fatViers*  sakes." 
When  restored  to  their  land,  Zachariah  tells  us  in 
his  12th  chapter,  "  they  shall  look  upon  Ilim  whom 
they  have  pierced" — Christ  manifested  to  them  — 
"  and  they  shall  mourn."  The  prophecy  of  Zacha- 
riah implies  that  they  shall  be  in  their  own  land 
when  they  shall  thus  repent.  "The  land  shall 
mourn,  every  family  apart ;  the  family  of  the  house 
of  David  apart,  and  their  wives  apart ;  the  family 
of  the  house  of  Nathan  apart,  and  their  wives  apart, 
the  family  of  the  house  of  Levi  apart,  and  their 
wives  apart" — implying  that  they  are  settled  in 
cities  and  sections  of  their  own  Palestine,  enjoying 
political  power  and  government  in  the  midst  of  it ; 


156  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

and  that  tlien  and  there  Christ  shall  be  revealed 
to  them  —  the  Gospel  accepted  by  them  —  and 
where  once  they  shouted,  "Crucify  him!"  they 
shall  shout  "Ilosanna!"  till  the  echoes  of  their 
songs  reverberate  from  west  to  east,  and  from  earth 
to  heaven,  and  the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with 
the  glory  of  the  God  of  Israel. 

The  Jew  is  now  a  reluctant  witness  to  the  truth 
of  the  'New  Testament.  Their  long  resistance  of 
its  claims  is  one  of  its  credentials.  But  one  day, 
probably  very  soon,  they  will  appear  its  glad  advo- 
cates. The  only  thing  wanting  to  complete  the 
Jew's  testimony  to  the  inspiration  of  evangelists 
and  apostles  is  his  conversion .  "When  that  earnestly 
prayed-for  era  comes,  the  grandest  sign  of  the 
times  will  startle  the  world,  as  of  the  striking  of 
one  of  the  great  epochal  hours  of  time. 


NOAH,  HIS  AGE  AND  OURS.         157 


We  enter  here  on  one  of  the  great  parallelisms 
of  time.  The  coincidences  we  discover  between 
the  age  of  Noah  and  the  nineteenth  century  are 
significant  signs.  They  are  proofs  of  the  earth's 
old  age,  and  yet  foretokens  of  its  predicted  youth. 
Our  Lord  says,  "  As  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noe,  so 
shall  it  be  also  in  the  days  of  the  Son  of  man. 
They  did  eat,  they  drank,  they  married  wives,  they 
were  given  in  marriage,  until  the  day  that  Noe 
entered  into  the  ark,  and  the  flood  came,  and  de- 
stroyed them  all.  Likewise  also  as  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Lot ;  they  did  eat,  they  drank,  they  bought, 
they  sold,  they  planted,  they  builded ;  but  the  same 
day  that  Lot  went  out  of  Sodom  it  rained  fire  and 
brimstone  from  heaven,  and  destroyed  them  all." 
Luke  xvii.  26-29. 

History,  whether  sacred  or  profane,  seems  always 
to  repeat  itself.  One  great  era  in  the  world  appears, 
when  narrowly  examined,  to  be  simply  the  reflec- 
tion of  another ;  and  a  deed  done  in  the  day  that 
now  is,  to  be  the  echo  of  a  deed  done  hundreds  or 
thousands  of  years  ago.  Time  seems  to  move  in 
circles,  history  constantly  to  repeat  itself,  and  so 


is  nothing  new  under  the  sun."   When  we  examine 
14 


158  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

great  and  startling  epochs  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  we  find  points  of  contact,  analogies,  and 
coincidences  most  suggestive.  The  deluge,  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  the  end  of  this  age,  all 
seem  to  have  coincident  points,  running,  like  sea 
and  land,  into  each  other. 

The  age  of  E"oah  is  a  prefiguration  of  the  age 
that  now  is,  —  the  last  great  epoch  of  this  world's 
life.  History  is  never  obsolete.  He  that  knows 
best  the  history  of  the  past,  humanly  speaking,  will 
be  the  truest  prophet  of  the  character  of  the  future. 
Some  one  made  the  remark  in  scorn,  "  History  is 
an  old  almanack:"  he  stated  a  great  truth,  though 
he  did  not  intend  it.  How  does  the  almanack  of 
this  year  difier  from  the  almanack  of  the  last  ?  The 
dates  differ  slightly,  but  the  acts  are  the  same,  the 
tides  the  same,  the  same  rising  and  setting  of  the 
sun,  summer  and  winter,  spring  and  autumn. 
History  is  an  old  almanack ;  it  is  the  same  great 
drama,  only  with  different  actors,  and  slight  changes 
in  the  parts  that  they  play.  If  you  take  the  events 
of  the  last  two  thousand  years,  and  compare  them 
with  the  events  of  the  four  thousand  that  preceded, 
you  will  be  struck  by  the  number  of  beautiful  and 
interesting  coincidences.  The  study  of  Genesis  is 
a  preparation  for  the  study  of  the  Apocalypse. 
Acquaintance  with  Leviticus  is  a  ground-work  for 
acquaintance  with  the  Gospel  according  to  St. 
John.  The  history  of  humanity  in  the  desert  is  a 
type  and  prefiguration  of  humanity  in  the  age  in 
which  our  lot  is  now  cast. 


NOAH,   HIS  AGE  AND   OURS.  159 

Human  nature,  as  far  as  disconnected  with  the 
Gospel,  and  uninfluenced  by  its  elements,  is  the 
same  in  the  days  of  l!^apoleon  that  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Noah.  The  nineteenth  century  from 
creation,  and  the  nineteenth  century  from  redemp- 
tion, in  which  we  live,  are  very  much  fac-similes 
the  one  of  the  other ;  and  where  the  difference  is 
visible,  that  difference  is  the  result  of  the  touch  of 
transforming  grace,  not  the  inherent  attainment  or 
development  of  original  excellence  in  human  na- 
ture. 

Jesus,  in  his  assertion  of  parallelism,  recognises 
Genesis  as  Scripture.  It  is  worth  while  to  notice 
these  points :  because,  admit  the  New  Testament 
to  be  divine,  and  you  cannot  escape  the  conclusion 
that  the  Old  is  equally  so ;  because  the  writers  and 
speakers  in  the  New  quote  the  sentiments  of  the 
writers  of  the  Old.  Jesus  quotes  Genesis  as  true 
history.  You  are  aware  the  Rationalists  in  Ger- 
many—  called  Rationalists,  as  they  think  them- 
selves, from  excess  of  reason,  just  as  lucus,  from 
lux^  light,  is  the  Latin  for  a  grove,  from  its  non 
lucendo,  from  its  having  no  light ;  so  these  men  are 
called  Rationalists,  because  they  have  no  reason — 
say  that  the  tower  of  Babel,  and  Abraham  leaving 
TJr  of  the  Chaldees,  and  the  flood,  are  myths — that 
is,  fables.  They  say  it  was  not  a  real  history,  but 
a  fable,  just  as  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  or 
the  parable  of  the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus.  But 
here  our  blessed  Lord  refers  to  Noah  as  a  real  per- 
son, to  the  flood  as  a  fact,  to  the  characteristics  of 


160  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

that  generation  as  types  and  prefigurations  of  the 
characteristics  of  ours ;  and  in  all  respects  he  at- 
tests the  authenticity  of  Genesis,  the  reality  of  its 
history ;  and  that  if  Rationalists  proclaim  it  to  be 
a  myth,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life  has  an- 
ticipated them,  by  pronouncing  it  sacred  and  in- 
structive history. 

The  prophecy,  however,  that  we  are  now  to  con- 
sider is,  that  men  shall  be  at  the  close  of  this  age 
just  as  they  were  at  the  close  of  the  antediluvian 
age.  But  what  was  the  character  of  the  people  at 
the  time  of  the  flood  ?  and  by  finding  the  sketch 
of  them,  as  given  by  the  inspired  pencil,  we  shall 
be  able  to  ascertain  what  shall  be  the  character  of 
those  who  shall  live  immediately  before  our  Lord's 
coming.  The  condition  and  character  of  the  world 
in  the  days  of  Noah  are  thus  described : — "  And  it 
came  to  pass,  that  the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daugh- 
ters of  men  that  they  were  fair ;  and  they  took 
them  wives  of  all  which  they  chose.  And  the  Lord 
said.  My  spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man, 
for  that  he  also  is  flesh.  There  w^ere  giants  in  the 
earth  in  those  days.  And  God  saw  that  the  wick- 
edness of  man  was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that 
every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was 
only  evil  continually.  And  it  repented  the  Lord 
that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved 
him  at  his  heart.  The  earth  also  was  corrupt  be- 
fore God,  and  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence. 
And  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and,  behold,  it 
was  corrupt ;  for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way 


NOAH,  HIS  AGE  AND  OURS.         161 

upon  the  earth."  Here  is  the  portrait ;  not  drawn 
by  an  inaccurate  pen,  but  by  the  faithful  historian, 
who  was  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  sketch  it 
truly,  and  to  set  down  nothing  that  was  false.  We 
may  expect,  then,  that  the  next  generation  will  be 
something  like  a  reflection  of  this  first.  We  are 
told  that  in  the  days  of  Koah  the  heart  of  man  was 
deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked. 
And  is  th§  natural  heart  improved  now?  There 
is  no  evidence  that  it  is.  Sins  as  grievous,  crimes 
as  flagrant,  emanate  from  the  unsanctified  and  un- 
regenerate  heart  now  as  ever  emanated  from  it  in 
the  days  of  I^oah.  We  may  be  more  civilized  than 
they  were  in  Xoah's  days,  but  not  more  sanctified : 
we  may  have  more  science,  but  we  may  not  have 
more  grace.  If  God's  Word  speaks  intelligibly  it 
speaks  pointedly,  that  out  of  the  heart  proceed  all 
evil  thoughts,  appetites  and  desires,  until  that  heart 
IS  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  think  that  education  without  religion 
makes  man's  heart  one  whit  holier.  We  do  not 
fear  education  in  science ;  we  only  contend  that  it 
is  not  sufiicient  to  make  man  holy,  or  to  make  him 
happy  hereafter.  In  fact,  education  without  reli- 
gion does  man  so  far  good — that  it  tends  to  civilize 
him ;  but  it  does  not  one  whit  sanctify  him :  it 
needs  the  element  of  religion  to  accomplish  that ; 
and  because  we  say  mere  secular  education  is  not 
sufiicient,  we  do  not  say  it  is  not  in  itself  good ; 
however,  all  it  can  do  is  to  improve  man  as  an  in- 
habitant of  this  world ;  it  cannot  fit  man  for  being 
14* 


162  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

an  inhabitant  of  a  higher.  If  I  cany  filings  of  steel 
from  a  muddy  street  to  a  beautiful  walk,  or  to  a 
lovely  garden,  I  make  an  improvement  in  their 
condition ;  but  if  I  take  a  magnet  and  apply  it  to 
them,  I  give  them  another  motion  altogether,  and 
lift  them  not  horizontally,  but  vertically  from  the 
earth.  Secular  education  lifts  man  from  degrada- 
tion unto  social  civilization  ;  but  it  is  only  a  change 
of  locality  on  the  earth ;  it  is  a  horizontal  change ; 
but  grace  touches  him  with  its  magnetic  attraction, 
and  draws  him,  not  from  one  part  of  the  earth  to 
another ;  but  from  the  earth  to  heaven,  from  grace 
to  glory,  closer  and  nearer  to  God. 

The  heart  of  man  is  not  one  whit  changed  in  its 
inherent  nature  from  what  it  was  in  the  days  of 
IsToah  and  immediately  before  the  flood.  David 
said  it  was  the  same  in  his  days  that  it  was  in  those 
of  E'oah ;  and  faithful  history  records  the  crimes 
that  have  found  their  origin  in  the  heart,  and 
stained  the  annals  of  the  fairest  realms  of  Europe. 

It  is  also  written,  that  in  the  days  of  ^Noah  the 
earth  was  filled  with  violence,  that  is,  war,  conflict, 
revolt,  dispute.  And  are  we  very  much  wiser  now? 
It  was  predicted  by  the  great  advocates,  not  of 
peace,  but  of  the  Peace  Society,  some  years  ago, 
that  now  war  had  become  an  obsolete  thing,  that 
all  our  shot  should  at  once  be  made  into  rails,  that 
our  cannon  should  be  turned  into  locomotives,  our 
muskets  sold  as  old  iron,  and  our  ships  as  fire-wood, 
and  in  fact,  that  a  mere  pretence  of  a  guard  was 
all  that  we  wanted  on  the  shores  of  England,  and 


NOAH,  HIS  AGE  AND  OURS.         163 

that  Europe  had  learned  enough  of  war  up  to  1814 
to  shrink  from  it  for  ever.  Had  these  men  recol- 
lected that  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  IS'oah,  so  shall 
it  be  when  the  Son  of  man  cometh,  they  would 
have  paused  before  they  prophesied  so  badly. 
"What  better  testimony  can  we  have  to  what  man 
is  capable  of,  than  that  the  very  people  who  shed 
torrents  of  blood,  and  committed  the  awful  deeds 
of  1793,  did  things,  if  possible,  more  awful  in 
1848  ?  And  at  this  present  moment  all  Europe  is 
one  vast  volcano,  waiting  for  the  match  to  be  ap- 
plied to  explode  into  a  thousand  fragments.  What 
is  now  taking  place  upon  the  Danube,  whether  it 
be  the  fanatic  Sultan  or  the  ambitious  Czar  that  is 
to  blame,  is  evidence  that  all  Europe,  notwithstand- 
ing the  benevolent  and  dutiful  attempts  of  states- 
men to  avert  it,  is  plunging  more  and  more  into 
one  vast  and  devastating  war.  We  are  just  upon 
the  verge  of  the  utter  waning  of  the  Crescent. 
And  while  that  Crescent  wanes,  the  old  Eastern 
churches  that  are  now  under  the  Mahometan  power 
are  becoming  more  enlightened,  more  desirous  of 
God's  Word,  more  willing  to  listen  to  faithful 
preaching  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Cross ;  and  a 
people,  enlightened  by  the  Bible,  are  ready  to  take 
the  place  of  a  people  degraded  by  the  Koran,  pre- 
paratory to  that  moment  when  the  Jews,  the  kings 
from  the  sun-rising,  shall  move  homeward  to  their 
own  land,  repossess  it,  and  look  for  him  in  glory 
who  will  come  and  reveal  himself  as  the  Messiah, 
and  they  shall  mourn  every  tribe  apart,  and  be  in 


164  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

bitterness  as  one  is  in  bitterness  for  bis  own  first- 
born. 

ITotwithstanding  all  propbecies  of  peace,  the  na- 
tions are  at  this  moment  as  ready  for  war  as  ever. 
This  seems  very  strange ;  it  only  sbows  that  men 
are  not  yet  tired  of  war,  and  that  until  the  Prince 
of  Peace  shall  sway  his  sceptre  over  a  transformed 
world,  there  may  be  "Peace,  peace" — the  calm, 
the  quiet — ^but  not  the  permanent  peace  that  keeps 
the  heart  and  mind  continually. 

In  the  days  of  ]^oah,  not  only  was  the  earth 
filled  with  violence,  so  that  we  may  expect  the 
same  violence  to  be  exhibited  again ;  but  out  of  all 
that  vast  population  there  were  only  eight  persons 
that  obeyed  God's  word,  that  worshipped  the  true 
God,  and  honoured  him.  Far  be  it  from  me  to 
pronounce  where  to  pray  is  duty ;  but  is  it  not  fact, 
at  this  moment,  that  if  j^ou  take  Christendom  at 
large,  you  cannot  say  that  the  majority  are  Chris- 
tians ;  you  cannot  say  that  the  majority  of  the  pro- 
fessing Church  are  true,  spiritually-minded  Chris- 
tians ?  It  is  still  true  that  "  broad  is  the  way  that 
leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  there  be  that  go 
in  thereat;"  and  "narrow  is  the  way  that  leadeth 
to  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it."  As  "  it  was 
in  the  days  of  l^oah"  —  that  the  overwhelming 
majority  were  opposed  to  the  truth,  and  enamoured 
of  a  lie  —  so  previous  to  Christ's  second  advent  in 
the  bursting  cloud  that  reveals  the  lightning  in  its 
splendour,  and  ushers  in  the  Lord  of  glory,  the 


NOAH,   niS  AGE  AND   OURS.  165 

great  multitude  will  be  without  God,  and  without 
Christ,  and  without  hope  in  the  world. 

Another  feature  of  the  men  in  the  days  of  IN'oah 
was  their  intense  worldliness.  They  were  eating, 
drinking,  marrying  wives,  and  giving  in  marriage. 
Kow  there  was  no  sin  in  any  of  these.  It  was  not 
sinful,  but  dutiful  to  eat  and  drink,  if  they  did  so 
in  moderation ;  it  was  lawful  to  marry  then,  as  it 
is  lawful  and  dutiful  to  marry  now,  ever  remember- 
ing the  grand  modifying  law  that  gives  it  all  its 
consistency  and  its  beauty :  "  Let  them  that  marry 
be  as  though  they  married  not ;  and  they  that  weep 
as  though  they  wept  not ;  and  they  that  rejoice  as 
though  they  rejoiced  not ;  and  they  that  use  the 
world  as  not  abusing  it,  knowing  that  the  fashion 
of  it  speedily  passeth  away."  What  was  the  sin 
of  the  antediluvians  in  eating,  drinking,  marrying, 
and  giving  in  marriage  ?  It  was  the  excessive  love 
of  the  lawful  which  corrupted  them,  as  truly  a^ 
their  constant  indulgence  in  the  sinful.  Never  for- 
get the  danger  we  are  in  in  loving  to  excess  what 
is  lawful,  as  well  as  in  practising  that  which  is  for- 
bidden ;  and  there  is  probably  more  peril  in  the 
excessive  love  of  the  lawful  than  there  is  in  the 
forbidden  practice  of  the  sinful.  More  men  lose 
their  souls  by  being  absorbed  in  practices  that  are 
in  themselves  unexceptionable,  than  in  practices  that 
are  positively  sinful  and  forbidden.  The  world 
then  was  their  temple;  indulgence  of  the  appetites 
was  their  delight;  the  gratification  of  the  flesh  was 
their  enjoyment.   They  were  the  slaves  of  appetite, 


166  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  servants  of  the  world.  This  world  was  their 
all ;  they  made  the  most  of  it — "  Eat,  drink,  and 
be  merry,  for  to-morrow  we  die."  But  on  the 
supposition  that  there  is  a  world  beyond  it,  where 
the  deeds  of  the  present  have  their  echo  in  the 
retributions  of  the  future,  their  conduct  was  dis- 
obedient in  the  extreme.  Now  it  will  be  so  at  the 
end  of  this  dispensation.  Men  will  eat  and  drink, 
and  marry  and  give  in  marriage,  and  they  will 
think  nothing  of  the  future.  "While  it  is  their 
privilege  and  their  duty  to  trade,  they  will  not 
simply  be  in  the  world — where  God  has  placed 
them — but  they  will  be  of  the  world,  where  Chris- 
tians ought  not  to  be.  And  the  reason  of  this  was, 
that  they  were  in  those  days  atheists,  or  they  lived 
without  God.  'Now  an  atheist  we  shrink  from  in 
horror,  and  very  j  ustly.  I  cannot  conceive  a  rational 
being  with  one  ounce  of  common  sense  to  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  there  is  not  a  God  who  made 
and  governs  this  present  world.  The  thing  seems 
so  absurd,  that  the  man  who  could  arrive  at  such 
a  conclusion  seems  only  fit  to  be  the  inmate  of  a 
lunatic  asylum.  The  Psalmist's  statement,  "  men 
that  say,  No  God,"  does  not  mean  that  in  David's 
days  they  were  so  foolish,  as  to  conclude  logically, 
"  no  God."  If  it  were  written,  not  in  the  Hebrew, 
but  in  Greek,  it  would  have  been  in  the  optative 
mood.  ''The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,"  not 
"There  is  no  God;"  but,  "2  wish  thej-e  was  no 
God."  He  cannot  avoid  the  logical  conclusion 
that  there  is  a  God ;  but  he  wishes  that  he  could 


NOAH,    HIS   AGE  AND   OURS.  167 

continue  in  his  sins,  and  feel  that  there  were  no 
God  to  see  him  or  to  call  him  to  account.  The 
spirit  of  atheism  may  be  where  there  is  a  perfect 
horror  of  the  idea  of  an  atheist.  The  man  who 
explains  every  phenomenon  without  God,  who  sees 
nature's  laws,  but  cannot  see  beyond  them  nature's 
Lawgiver,  who  accounts  for  every  occurrence,  pros- 
perous or  adverse,  painful  or  pleasant,  retribution 
or  blessing,  without  God,  may  theoretically  be  no 
atheist,  but  practically  he  is  so.  He  is  an  atheist 
who  looks  on  everything,  and  thinks  of  everything 
practically  on  the  hypothesis  that  there  is  no  God. 
He  enters  on  to-morrow's  duties  not  feeling,  "  If 
the  Lord  will,  or  if  the  Lord  will  not ;"  he  goes  to 
to-morrow's  business  calculating  upon  all  he  can 
do,  and  all  he  will  do,  not  recognising  the  possibly 
disturbing  element,  there  is  a  God :  such  a  man  is 
not  theoretically  an  atheist,  but  practically  he  is 
one.  He  is,  as  the  Apostle  describes  him,  "  without 
God."  For  "atheist"  does  not  mean  a  person 
opposed  to  God,  but  a  person  without  God.  An 
antitheist  is  one  opposed  to  God.  Yoltaire  was  an 
antitheist,  that  is,  one  who  deliberately  and  avow- 
edly opposed  and  hated  God;  who  swore  in  his 
blasphemy  that  he  would  dethrone  him ;  w^hose 
letters  closed  with  the  execration  that  he  would 
erase  Christ's  name  from  the  earth.  He  was  not 
an  atheist,  but  an  antitheist — one  full  of  conscious 
enmity  to  God,  opposed  to  him,  and  determined, 
at  all  hazards,  and  whatever  might  be  the  issue,  to 
resist  him.  But  many  that  profess  to  be  Christians, 


168  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

in  their  practical  life,  are  without  God,  by  omitthig 
him  and  his  will  and  sovereignty  in  their  calcula- 
tions. At  the  same  time  we  must  be  very  careful 
not  to  see  God  in  judgments  only,  but  in  mercies 
and  blessings  also.  Many  persons  are  atheists 
when  mercies  are  showered  upon  them,  and  recog- 
nise God  only  when  judgments  overtake  them.  I 
see  God  in  sunshine,  if  possible,  more  emphatically 
than  in  cloud.  I  see  him  in  the  golden  harvest  in 
its  plentiful  abundance,  more  clearly  than  I  see 
him  in  the  waves  and  waters  of  misfortune.  I 
w^ould  wish  more  to  see  God  in  prosperity,  and  more 
to  see  myself,  and  my  sins,  and  my  unworthiness 
in  adversity.  But  man's  tendency  is  to  see  God 
when  trouble  comes,  forgetting  that  his  sin  alone 
is  to  blame ;  and  to  see  himself  when  prosperity 
comes,  and  to  praise  his  own  ingenuity  and  clever- 
ness. It  is  the  Christian's  joy  to  see  God  in  all 
that  is  beneficent,  and  beautiful,  and  happy ;  and 
to  see  his  own  sins,  and  wickedness,  and  guilt  in 
the  evils  and  the  judgments  that  occasionally  over- 
take him. 

The  associations  of  the  antediluvians  were  all 
essentially  depraved.  "  The  sons  of  God  married 
the  daughters  of  men,"  an  expression  which  de- 
notes that  the  pious  mingled  with  the  depraved, 
without  discrimination  and  without  distinction. 
The  Apostle  lays  down  what  is  duty  always — that 
they  that  marry  are  to  marry  in  the  Lord.  The 
antediluvians  thought  that  that  was  good  enough 
for  the  trancendentalist,  but  not  for  practical  and 


NOAH,  HIS  AGE  AND  OURS.         169 

every  day  life.  And  many  think  now,  that  it  may 
be  very  beautiful  for  a  higher  dispensation,  but 
that  we  must  take  other,  and  more  sublunary,  even 
mercenary  elements  into  our  estimate  now.  And 
again,  "whether  we  eat  or  drink,  we  are  to  do  all 
to  the  glory  of  God,"  is  the  Christian  maxim,  but 
that  was  not  the  maxim  then.  It  was  thought 
good  enough  for  monks,  and  nuns,  and  hermits, 
but  not  for  the  business  men  of  this  world.  Chris- 
tianity ought  to  be  the  cement  of  every  association. 
Exhaust  it  from  a  nation,  and  it  will  fall  to  pieces ; 
let  marriage  be  separated  from  Christianity  as  its 
basis,  and  what  will  it  be  ?  Just  what  it  has  been 
among  the  Socialists  —  a  bargain,  a  piece  of  con- 
venience, and  to  be  broken  as  soon  as  the  one 
party  is  dissatisfied  with  the  other;  and  held  as 
ceasing  to  be  seen  in  heaven,  it  soon  comes  to  be 
broken  upon  earth. 

There  was  in  the  antediluvian  w^orld  total  disbe- 
lief of  the  testimony  of  Noah  as  to  the  coming 
judgments  that  should  burst  upon  the  earth.  When 
Noah  predicted,  yet  a  hundred  and  twenty  days  the 
flood  should  come,  how  did  they  receive  it  ?  Just 
as  men  will  receive  those  who  prophesy  the  coming 
of  Christ  at  the  close  of  this  dispensation.  "  Know- 
ing this  first,"  says  Peter,  confirmatory  of  the  pas- 
sage we  are  now  commenting  upon,  "that  there 
shall  come  in  the  last  days  scoiBTers,  walking  after 
Iheir  own  lusts,  and  saying,  Where  is  the  promise 
of  his  coming  ?  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all 
things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning 
15 


170  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

of  the  creation.  For  this  they  willingly  are  igno- 
rant of,  that  by  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  were 
of  old,  and  the  earth  standing  out  of  the  water  and 
in  the  water:  whereby  the  world  that  then  was, 
being  overflowed  with  w^ater,  perished:  but  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  which  are  now,  by  the  same 
w^ord  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  lire  against 
the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition  of  ungodly  men. 
But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing, 
that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years, 
and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day.  The  Lord  is  not 
slack  concerning  his  promise,  as  some  men  count 
slackness:  but  is  long-suffering  to  us-ward,  not 
willing  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should 
come  to  repentance.  But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will 
come  as  a  thief  in  the  night;  in  the  which  the 
heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the 
elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also 
and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up. 
Seeing  then  that  all  these  things  shall  be  dissolved, 
what  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy 
conversation  and  godliness,  looking  for  and  hasting 
unto  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God,  wherein  the 
heavens  being  on  fire  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the 
elements  shall  melt  with  fei'vent  heat  ?  N'everthe- 
less  we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness." 

Those  that  lived  in  the  days  of  I^oah  despised 
!N"oah's  prophecy  of  a  coming  flood.  Their  con- 
clusion was,  There  is  not  water  enough  in  the 


171 

basin  of  the  ocean  to  rise  to  the  great  height  to 
which  it  will  be  requisite  it  should  rise  in  order  to 
destroy  the  world.  But  just  as  scientific  men  had 
decided  that  Noah's  prophecy  was  the  mere  crotchet 
of  an  old  man  who  had  lost  his  mind,  the  fountains 
of  the  great  deep  burst,  the  windows  of  heaven 
were  opened,  and  the  earth  that  then  was  perished. 
To  argue,  therefore,  that  the  laws  of  nature  prevent 
the  fulfilment  of  God's  word,  is  to  assert  that  the 
law  is  greater  than  the  Lawgiver,  and  the  thing 
created  greater  than  the  Creator  himself.  Those 
who  perished  in  that  great  and  awful  judgment 
had  an  ofler  of  escape.  The  old  and  venerable 
preacher  of  righteousness  stood  upon  the  steps  of 
the  ark  he  had  built  by  the  prescriptions  of  his 
God,  and  told  them  that  every  one  that  would  be- 
lieve God's  testimony  by  his  lips,  and  come  into 
that  ark,  should  be  saved  from  the  deluge  that 
would  soon  sweep  the  earth  and  depopulate  it. 
They  were,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  disobe- 
dient then,  and  their  souls  are  in  the  prison  of  hell 
now.  "As  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noah,  so  shall  it 
be  also  in  the  days  of  the  Son  of  man."  When 
you  are  told  of  the  awful  baptism,  not  of  flood,  but 
of  fire,  and  when  you  are  invited  to  escape,  not  by 
the  ark  of  a  temporal  deliverance,  but  by  Christ, 
the  Great  Deliverer,  many  thousands  will  despise 
the  prophecy,  deride  the  prophet,  and  turn  aside, 
one  to  his  farm  and  another  to  his  merchandise, 
and  care  for  none  of  these  things.  Nevertheless  it 
shall  be  true,  as  stated  by  an  Apostle  in  the  Epistle 


172  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

to  the  Thessalonians,  where  he  tells  us,  that  "  Christ 
shall  be  revealed  from  heaven,  taking  vengeance 
in  flaming  fire  on  them  that  know  not  God,  and 
that  obey  not  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ : 
who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory 
of  his  power ;  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified 
in  his  saints,  and  to  be  admired  in  all  them  that 
believe." 

"We  have  it  recorded  in  the  antediluvian  days 
that  the  Spirit  ceased  to  strive  with  man  any  more. 
When  the  Holy  Spirit  ceases  to  bless  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  it  fails  to  have  effect.  "When  he 
ceases  to  imprint  upon  the  heart  the  truths  that 
are  addressed  to  the  ear,  all  preaching  and  all 
hearing  is  vain.  And  just  before  the  close — before 
the  lightning  cloud  shall  come,  in  which  Christ 
shall  be  seen  as  in  heaven  with  power  and  great 
glory,  God's  Holy  Spirit  will  cease  to  strive ;  the 
day  of  grace  will  be  finished,  the  day  of  judgment 
will  have  begun — cut  it  down,  it  only  cumbers  the 
ground  that  is  now  to  be  blessed  and  sanctified 
with  His  presence,  and  become  the  bright  dwell- 
ing-place of  all  that  believe  for  ever  and  ever.  To 
show  that  we  have  not  exaggerated  in  the  least,  I 
will  read  the  summary  of  all  that  shall  be  in  the 
last  days  from  2  Timothy  iii. :  "  This  know  also, 
that  in  the  last  days  perilous  times  shall  come.  For 
men  shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves,  covetous, 
boasters,  proud,  blasphemers,  disobedient  to  pa- 
rents, unthankful,  unholy,  without  natural  aftec- 


NOAH,  HIS  AGE  AND  OURS.         173 

tion,  truce-breakers,  false  accusers,  incontinent, 
fierce,  despisers  of  those  that  are  good,  traitors, 
heady,  high-minded,  lovers  of  pleasures  more  than 
lovers  of  God;  having  a  form  of  godliness,  but 
denying  the  power  thereof."  8uch  is  the  picture 
that  will  be  a  sign  of  the  times  in  the  days  pre- 
ceding the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man. 

Christianity  is  not  to  be  a  progressive  develop- 
ment from  what  it  is  now  to  its  millennial  glory. 
The  idea  of  many  excellent  Christians  —  excellent 
in  all  that  constitutes  the  vitality  of  the  truth,  but 
I  think  deceived  and  mistaken  in  this  —  is  that  by 
the  aid  of  missions,  by  the  distribution  of  the  Bible, 
by  the  pouring  out  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  this 
present  dispensation  shall  have  its  piety  so  deepened 
that  the  Millennium  shall  be  its  coronal,  a  Millen- 
nium the  product  of  elements  that  are  now  in 
action ;  and  not  a  new  age  and  a  new  dispensation 
altogether.  Now,  if  I  understand  the  Bible,  it  says 
that  the  last  days  of  this  dispensation  shall  be  worse 
than  the  first  —  that  when  the  Son  of  man  cometh 
shall  he  find  faith  upon  the  earth? — that  as  it  was 
in  the  days  of  !N'oah,  just  before  the  judgment  of 
water  came,  so  shall  it  be  in  our  days  just  before 
the  judgment  of  fire  comes ;  men  Uving  without 
God,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  eating, 
drinking,  heady,  high-minded,  lovers  of  pleasure 
more  than  lovers  of  God.  Judging  from  the  Bible, 
the  Millennium  belongs  to  a  distinct  dispensation. 
I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  the  complement  of  the ' 
present  age,  but  the  commencement  of  a  new  one. 
15* 


174"  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES. 

This  dispensation  is  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit, 
where  the  Holy  Spirit  is  electing  a  people  out  of 
this  world  to  be  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest 
hood,  a  peculiar  people :  the  next  dispensation  is 
when  Christ  —  the  King,  the  true  Shechinah,  the 
glory  of  God  —  shall  personally  be  revealed,  shall 
personally  reign,  and  all  shall  be  righteous,  none 
depraved,  the  lion  lie  down  with  the  lamb,  and 
there  shall  be  no  more  tears,  nor  death,  nor  weep- 
ing, nor  sorrow,  nor  crying:  the  Millennium,  the 
beautiful  morning  dawn  of  the  everlasting  heaven 
that  spreads  over  all  the  universe,  and  earth  under- 
go a  re-Genesis,  just  as  the  body  undergoes  a  resur- 
rection, and  be  the  heaven  of  God's  people,  more 
beautiful  than  Paradise,  the  first  home  of  man, 
when  he  came  from  the  hands  of  his  Creator. 

"We  look,  therefore,  for  matters  to  get  worse  as 
the  end  approaches.  And  whilst  there  are  more 
of  the  people  of  God  than  there  have  been,  and 
more  in  our  own  land  than  in  any  land  upon  earth, 
yet  the  vast  majority  of  Christendom  answers  too 
terribly  to  the  portrait  given  by  the  Apostle.  Many 
Christians  feel  it  difficult  to  entertain  the  idea  that 
this  world  is  to  be  the  abode  of  the  saints  in  the 
future  age.  But  why  should  you  suppose  we  are  to 
live  in  some  etherialized  atmosphere,  intangible, 
and  invisible  ?  Adam  and  Eve  held  communion 
with  God  in  Eden,  and  is  it  impossible  that  we 
shall  be  made  so  pure,  morally  so  perfect,  and  the 
earth,  our  dwelling-place,  so  cleansed  of  every  im- 
pure element,  that  it  shall  be  the  loveliest  orb  in 


NOAH,  HIS  AGE  AND  OURS.         175 

the  universe,  because  the  prodigal  one  restored  to 
its  Creator's  presence,  to  its  Father's  bosom ;  while 
all  the  sister  orbs  of  creation  sing  for  joy,  "Let  us 
rejoice,  for  this  our  sister  orb  was  lost,  and  is  now 
found;  was  dead,  and  is  now  made  alive." 

But  if  we  are — and  I  believe  we  are  now — rapidly 
approaching  the  close  of  this  dispensation,  our  first 
inquiry  is.  Are  we  Christians?  —  are  our  hearts 
changed  ?  —  are  we  sprinkled  with  atoning  blood  ? 
In  other  words,  is  religion  anything  to  us,  and  are 
we  anything  to  it  ?  The  religion  of  this  book  is 
not  something  within  its  boards,  to  be  read  when 
we  open  it,  and  to  be  forgotten  when  we  put  our 
Bible  in  our  library.  But,  if  I  understand  it,  the 
religion  of  this  book  is  to  go  into  every  nook  and 
corner  of  the  human  heart,  to  penetrate  every  by- 
way of  private  life,  every  broad-way  of  public  life, 

—  to  regenerate  men,  influence  and  make  them 
wiser,  happier,  holier,  and  more  like  God.  Has  it 
done  so  ?  What  better  are  you  for  the  fact  that 
this  book  was  written  ?  "Would  you  be  just  as  you 
are  now,  if  you  had  never  heard  that  Christ  was 
crucified  ?  Would  you  have  been  just  at  this  mo- 
ment as  you  are  and  have  been,  if  there  were  no 
such  thing  as  religion  in  the  world  ?  You  may 
estimate  the  influence  religion  has  had  upon  you, 
and  the  connexion  you  have  had  with  it,  by  this : 

—  How  much  has  it  done  for  you  ?  What  has  it 
made  me  that  I  could  not  have  been  made  without 
it  ?  What  hopes  has  it  kindled  in  my  heart  that  I 
could  not  have  without  it  ?  What  blessed  prospects 


176  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

has  it  opened  up  ?  How  far  has  it  lifted  my  heart 
above  the  world,  and  taught  me  while  in  the  world 
not  to  be  of  it  ?  If  this  book,  this  religion,  this 
Christ  crucified,  be  your  trust,  your  hope,  your 
peace,  the  anchor  of  your  soul,  sure  and  steadfast, 
then,  whether  Christ  takes  you  to  him,  or  he  comes 
to  you,  "  Blessed  are  ye,  enter  into  the  joy  of  your 
Lord,"  will  be  the  glad  and  welcome  summons 
given  to  your  souls. 


CELESTIAL  AND  TERRESTRIAL.  177 


VI. 


Our  blessed  Redeemer,  as  the  prophet  of  the 
Church,  foretells  the  signs  and  sights  and  pheno- 
mena of  the  twilight  of  this  dispensation  with  the 
same  precision  with  which  an  astronomer  tells  the 
transit  of  a  planet,  or  the  hour  and  depth  of  an 
eclipse,  —  "Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of 
those  days  shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the 
moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall 
fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens 
shall  be  shaken :  and  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of 
the  Son  of  man  in  heaven :  and  then  shall  all  the 
tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the 
Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with 
power  and  great  glory.  And  he  shall  send  his 
angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  they 
shall  gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four  winds, 
from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other."  Matt.  xxiv. 
29—31. 

The  advent  of  Jesus  is  not  to  be  a  secret  known 
by  the  few,  but  a  fact,  or  rather,  a  phenomenon 
that  shall  be  witnessed  by  the  wide  world  itself. 
As  the  lightning  shines  without  the  canopy,  light- 
ing it  up  with  all  its  brilliancy  and  splendour,  so 
the  Son  of  man  shall  come  with  sach  majestic 


178  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

tokens  of  his  approacli,  that  every  eye,  not  the  eye 
only  of  his  own,  shall  see  him.  After  having  de- 
scribed the  tribulation  of  the  days  he  has  mentioned, 
namely,  the  downfall  of  Jerusalem,  with  probably 
some  allusive  references  to  the  end  of  this  dispen- 
sation, he  proceeds  to  answer  the  second  question 
of  his  disciples,  —  "  What  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy 
coming,"  or  personal  appearance,  and  "  of  the  end 
of  the  world,"  or  the  Gentile  dispensation  ?  The 
answer  to  that  question  is  contained  in  the  sequel 
of  the  chapter. 

He  says,  "  Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of 
those  days  shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon 
shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from 
heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be 
shaken."  All  prophecy  leads  us  to  expect,  before 
the  close  of  the  present  dispensation,  unprecedented 
tribulation,  —  national,  social,  ecclesiastical,  politi- 
cal, universal.  You  cannot  open  a  single  prophecy 
in  the  Old  Testament  Scripture  that  relates  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  without  finding  passages  parallel 
to  that  which  we  have  quoted,  and  expressive  of 
the  same  approaching  catastrophes.  For  instance, 
we  are  told,  in  Jeremiah  xxx.  7,  "  That  day  is  great, 
so  that  none  is  like  it:  it  is  even  the  time  of  Jacob's 
trouble ;  but  he  shall  be  saved  out  of  it."  Again, 
we  read  in  Daniel  xii.  1,  2,  "And  at  that  time  shall 
Michael  stand  up,  the  great  prince  which  standeth 
for  the  children  of  thy  people :  and  there  shall  be  a 
time  of  trouble,  such  as  never  was  since  there  was 
a  nation  even  to  that  same  time :  and  at  that  time 


CELESTIAL   AND   TERRESTRIAL.  1T9 

thy  people,"  that  is,  the  Jews,  "shall  be  delivered, 
every  one  that  shall  be  found  written  in  the  book. 
And  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the 
earth  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and 
some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt."  And 
if  we  refer  to  the  parallel  Gospel,  we  shall  find  the 
same  facts  given  with  other  touches  that  identify 
the  period  more  closely  with  the  time  of  the  end. 
Our  Lord  says  there,  Luke  xxi.  24,  "The  Jews 
shall  fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  shall  be  led 
away  captive  into  all  nations" — that  is  their  condi- 
tion now :  "  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down 
of  the  Gentiles."  How  long?  "Until  the  times 
of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled."  What  times?  The 
times,  time,  and  half  a  time, —  the  period  assigned 
them.  And  then  he  adds,  "  There  shall  be  signs 
in  the  sun,  and  in  the  moon,  and  in  the  stars ;  and 
upon  the  earth  distress  of  nations,  with  perplexity ; 
the  sea" — the  crowds,  the  people — "and  the  waves 
roaring ;  men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for 
looking  after  those  things  which  are  coming  on 
the  earth ;  for  the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be 
shaken.  And  then  shall  they  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  a  cloud  with  great  power  and  glory." 
We  might  quote  other  passages,  which  establish 
the  same  point,  that  prior  to  the  end  of  this  dispen- 
sation all  the  elements  of  evil  shall  ferment,  all  the 
powers  and  principalities  of  Satan  shall  coalesce. 
His  last  grand  stroke  for  a  world  shall  be  struck ; 
his  last  desperate  eflbrt,  linked  with  all  that  is  evil, 
shall  be  made  to  retain  a  foothold  on  a  world  of 


180  SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES. 

which  he  is  the  usurper,  but  from  which  we  know 
he  shall  be  cast  out  unto  everlasting  chains,  where 
there  is  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

But  amongst  the  special  signs  that  are  to  precede 
the  immediate  advent  of  our  Lord,  it  is  said  that 
"the  snn  shall  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall 
not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fail,"  as  it 
might  be  rendered.  This  shall  take  place  literally, 
as  well  as  significantly ;  for  wherever  there  is  a 
prediction  in  ancient  prophecy,  or  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, we  have  first  the  literal,  and  next  we  have 
the  moral  eflfect  of  that  prophecy.  For  instance, 
in  the  prediction  of  what  w^as  to  take  place  after 
the  pouring  out  of  the  seventh  vial,  you  will  find 
physical  language  used,  having  a  corresponding 
physical  fulfilment,  and  with  a  moral  fulfilment 
also.  In  Eev.  xvi.  17,  "And  the  seventh  angel 
poured  out  his  vial  into  the  air:"  I  have  before  said 
that  I  believe  that  commenced  in  the  year  1848. 
He  was  to  pour  his  vial  of  judgment  into  the  air ; 
that  is,  not  upon  a  particular  nation,  but  upon  the 
whole  air,  i.  e.  all.  "  And  there  came  a  great  voice 
out  of  the  temple  of  heaven,  from  the  throne,  say- 
ing. It  is  done."  Then  what  took  place ?  "There 
were  voices,  and  thunders,  and  lightnings;  and 
there  was  a  great  earthquake."  This  denotes  hte- 
rally  an  earthquake,  but  it  denotes  also  a  moral 
convulsion  amongst  the  people.  ITow,  what  took 
place  in  the  year  1848  ?  The  whole  of  Europe  was 
shattered  to  its  very  foundations.  The  newspapers 
of  the  day  all  spoke  of  that  unpredecented  earth- 


CELESTIAL   AND   TERRESTRIAL.  181 

quake,  which  reached  and  revolutionized  the 
kingdoms  of  Europe,  in  comparison  of  which  all 
previous  ones  were  as  nothing.  "  And  the  great 
city  was  divided  into  three  parts."  Every  vial 
takes  a  time  for  its  fulfihneut ;  and,  therefore,  wo 
expect  the  tripartite  division  of  Europe,  geographi- 
cal, or  political,  or  ecclesiastical,  soon  to  take  place. 
ISTationality  is  a  new  cry,  a  new  idea.  Nations  are 
all  asking  for  their  national  rights ;  and  the  whole 
city  is  preparing  to  divide  into  what  is  probably  its 
destined  tripailite  division,  as  predicted  in  the  word 
of  God.  "And  great  Babylon  came  in  remem- 
brance before  God."  The  Church  of  Rome  just 
began  to  be  visited  in  that  year,  and  the  judgment 
still  sits  on  it.  True,  she  seems  recovering ;  but  it 
is  with  a  presentiment  of  her  coming  ruin,  making 
her  last  desperate,  but  unsuccessful  eifort,  to  subju- 
gate the  world  to  her  sway,  to  have  another  Hilde- 
brand  in  the  Vatican,  and  to  have  the  kings  of  the 
earth  kneeling  at  his  feet  for  absolution.  But  she 
will  not  obtain  it.  There  is  no  more  risk  of  her 
obtaining  power  over  the  earth  again,  than  of  the 
middle  ages  returning  to  Europe.  But,  all  these 
things  began  to  take  place  in  1848,  and  they  will 
be  developed  more  and  more  intensely.  In  1848 
we  had  the  physical  air,  as  well  as  the  moral  atmo- 
sphere, tainted.  Cholera  then  broke  out,  and 
yellow  fever  has  been  ravaging  other  parts  of  the 
world ;  and  medical  men  will  tell  you  that  diseases 
that  used  to  be  entirely  treated  after  certain  laws 
cannot  now  be  treated  after  the  same  laws,  that 
16 


182  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

something  seems  to  have  occurred  that  has  altered 
in  several  respects  the  sanitary  condition  of  things. 
"We  have  our  laws  morally  or  politically  affected 
also. 

The  sun,  it  is  said,  shall  be  darkened.  Why 
should  not  that  be  literal  ?  When  our  Lord  was 
crucified  a  preternatural  darkness  took  place.  The 
sun  was  created  long  before  this  world  was  created, 
but  its  office  as  a  hght-bearer  began  on  the  fourth 
day.  Now,  God  has  only  to  remove  the  light 
which  the  sun  radiates,  and  all  is  darkness.  He 
has  only  to  suspend  the  function  that  the  sun  fulfils 
to  the  earth,  and  then  there  will  be  obscuration. 
ISTo  doubt,  therefore,  this  will  be  literally  fulfilled, — 
the  sun  will  be  darkened,  the  moon  will  not  give 
her  light, — -just  prior  to  that  splendour  that  flashes 
on  the  world,  and  lights  it  up  with  unearthly  and 
celestial  brightness,  there  will  be  an  obscuration 
and  darkness  like  that  which  took  place  at  the 
Crucifixion,  which  will  give  the  people  of  God 
w^arning  that  the  earth  wanes  to  its  cl'ose,  and  that 
a  new  dispensation  is  about  to  begin.  On  this 
subject  I  may  refer  you  further  to  the  following 
passages  of  Scripture.  "  The  stars  of  heaven  and 
the  constellations  thereof  shall  not  give  their  light ; 
the  sun  shall  be  darkened  in  his  going  forth,  and 
the  moon  shall  not  cause  her  light  to  shine,"  Isa. 
xiii.  10.  Again,  "  The  moon  shall  be  confounded, 
and  the  sun  ashamed,  when  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall 
reign  in  Mount  Zion,  and  in  Jerusalem,  and  before 
his  ancients  gloriously,"  Isa.  xxiv.  28.     Again,  "I 


CELESTIAL   AND  TERRESTRIAL.  183 

will  cover  the  heaven,  and  make  the  stars  thereof 
dark ;  I  will  cover  the  sun  with  a  cloud,  and  the 
moon  shall  not  give  her  light,"  Ezek.  xxxii.  7. 
Again ;  "  I  will  shake  all  nations,  and  the  desire 
of  all  nations  shall  come ;  and  I  will  fill  this  house 
with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,"  Ilaggai  ii.  7. 
But  accepting  it  in  its  moral  as  well  as  in  its 
material  significance,  we  can  see  how  it  will  be 
fulfilled  in  that  sense  also.  The  sun  is  the  constant 
symbol  of  the  Saviour,  the  light  of  the  sun  is  the 
truth  of  the  gospel;  the  moon  that  reflects  the 
sun's  light  upon  the  earth,  and  is  a  servant  to  the 
sun,  is  the  representative  in  Scripture  of  the  Church. 
I  need  not  refer  to  passages  to  prove  that  stars  are 
the  ministers  of  the  Church.  Christ  holds  the 
seven  stars  in  his  right  hand.  All  three  are  used 
figuratively  by  Joseph,  where  he  saw  the  sun,  the 
moon,  and  the  stars,  that  is,  persons  in  rank  and 
authority,  bow  down  to  him,  and  do  him  homage. 
If  this  be  the  meaning  of  the  text,  we  may  expect 
that  the  ligCt  of  the  sun,  that  is,  Christianity,  will 
be  darkened ;  that  there  will  grow  up  on  all  sides 
portentous  and  frightful  heresies.  In  one  part  of 
America  these  are  at  this  moment  rank  and  rife 
enough;  and  I  need  not  tell  you  what  is  taking 
place  in  the  Church  of  England  at  this  moment, 
-where  the  light  of  the  sun,  that  is,  Christianity,  is 
[undergoing,  from  some  who  are  in  it,  but  not  of  it, 
a  fearful  eclipse  ;  and  instead  of  the  light  brighten- 
ing towards  the  Millennial  morn,  nearly  two  hun- 
dred of  her  ministers  have  receded  into  mediaeval 


184-  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

darkness,  and  perhaps  if  two  thousand  more  were 
to  go  to  the  same  place  they  w^ould  not  be  acting 
against  their  own  feelings  and  convictions,  and 
would  oblige  the  rest.  What  have  we  here,  then  ? 
An  obscuration  of  faith  in  some  of  the  most  pro- 
minent preachers  of  the  gospel. 

Then,  the  moon  was  not  to  give  her  light,  that 
is,  churches  w^ould  lose  the  distinctness  of  their 
character,  the  purity  of  their  doctrines,  the  holiness 
of  their  relationship,  and  become  unfaithful.  Whe- 
ther the  obscuration  that  has  begun,  and  to  which 
I  have  alluded,  may  go  further,  I  cannot  say ;  but 
this  we  do  know,  "that  in  the  latter  times  some," 
— and  that  means  a  great  number, — "  shall  depart 
from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits,  and 
doctrines  of  5a<fAov/wv,"  that  is,  separate  spirits; 
"speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy;  having  their  con- 
science seared  with  a  hot  iron  ;  forbidding  to  marry, 
and  commanding  to  abstain  from  meats,  which  God 
hath  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving." 
1  Tim.  iv.  1—3. 

The  stars  were  not  to  give  their  light.  I  have 
already  shown  in  the  obscuration  of  some,  that 
these  stars  have  ceased  to  be  reflectors  of  the  pure 
light  of  the  sun,  and  are  radiating  darkness,  not 
light^  upon  the  world. 

Then  the  powers  of  heaven  are  to  be  shaken. 
These,  I  believe,  denote  angels.  They  are  not  sun, 
nor  moon,  nor  stars.  Ai  Swaiisis  are  the  w^ords. 
Angels  have  a  deep  interest  in  the  progress  of 
Christianity ;  and  when  they  see  the  last  obscura- 


CELESTIAL  AND  TERRESTRIAL.  185 

tion  of  the  liglit,  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  changed 
from  their  original  functions,  they  will  be  moved, 
and  make  ready  to  go  forth  and  separate  the  tares 
from  the  wheat,  and  gather  the  elect  of  God  into 
their  everlasting  home. 

It  is  added,  that  when  Christ  comes  "all  the 
tribes  of  the  earth  shall  mourn."  Here,  no  doubt, 
is  the  Jewish  people.  The  language  is  so  peculiar, 
that  I  think  it  cannot  be  applied  to  the  Gentiles. 
It  is  the  usual  Greek  word  applied  to  the  Jews, 
irndat  a\  (pv\ai,  Now,  if  we  refer  to  ancient  prophecy, 
we  shall  see  how  distinctly  this  is  alluded  to.  For 
instance,  in  Zechariah  xii.  9 — 10,  "And  it  shall 
come  to  ^ass  in  that  day  that  I  will  seek  to  destroy 
all  the  nations  that  come  against  Jerusalem.  And 
I  will  pour  upon  the  house  of  David,  and  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  the  spirit  of  grace  and 
of  supplication ;  and  they  shall  look  upon  me," 
that  is,  Christ,  "  whom  they  have  pierced,  and  they 
shall  mourn  for  him,  as  one  mourneth  for  his  only 
son,  and  shall  be  in  bitterness  for  him,  as  one  that 
is  in  bitterness  for  his  first-born."  We  have  an 
allusion  to  the  very  same  thing  in  Revelations  i.  7, 
where  we  read,  "  Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds ; 
and  every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they  also  which 
pierced  him,"  that  is,  the  Jews :  "  and  all  kindreds 
of  the  earth  {ir adai  a\  (pvXal)  shall  wail,"  or  mourn, 
"because  of  him."  But  that  wailing  or  mourning 
of  the  Jewish  people  is  not  a  mourning  of  despair, 
but  of  genuine  repentance.  The  Holy  Spirit  shall 
be  poured  out  upon  them  all.  They  shall  see 
16* 


186  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Christ,  whom  their  fathers  crucified,  and  shall 
mourn  over  the  sins  of  their  nation,  and  grieve 
over  their  own  unfaithfulness  to  duty,  to  Christ, 
and  to  his  gospel ;  and  through  his  blood  shall  be 
pardoned,  absolved,  and  sanctified,  and  become 
the  metropolitan  people  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth. 

"  And  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of 
Man  in  heaven."  It  has  puzzled  many  to  decide 
what  is  the  meaning  of  this.  Alford,  a  sober  and 
competent  critic,  thinks  it  will  be  a  picture  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ  emblazoned  upon  the  concave  of 
the  skies  with  unearthly  brilliancy  and  splendour ; 
that  the  nations  shall  see  it,  and  some  shall  blas- 
pheme while  others  shall  rejoice  in  it.  He  seems 
to  have  come  to  this  conclusion  from  the  fact  that 
Con  Stan  tine,  the  Roman  emperor,  when  the  Roman 
empire  was  dissolved,  and  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion took  its  place,  saw  in  the  mid  skies  a  brilliant 
Cross,  and  read  the  words  '£v  <rouVw  v/xa,  "  In  this 
conquer."  Eusebius  says  that  it  was  not  a  dream 
or  fancy,  but  a  real  vision.  Well,  Alford,  guided 
by  this  historical  fact,  thinks  that  "  the  sign  of  the 
Son  of  man"  will  be  what  all  Christendom  has  re- 
cognised as  the  peculiar  sign  of  Christianity  — 
glorying  in  the  Cross — Christ  and  him  crucified — 
that  this  Cross  shall  appear  in  the  skies  revealed 
in  unearthly  splendour,  and  shall  strike  the  first 
deep  presentiment  into  the  hearts  of  men,  that  the 
Lord  of  glory,  to  whom  it  belongs,  is  just  at  our 
doors. 


CELESTIAL  AND   TERRESTRIAL.  187 

Others  seem  to  think  that  it  will  be  a  brilliant 
meteor,  something  like  that  which  guided  the  magi 
to  the  manger,  which  is  called  in  our  translation 
"  a  star,"  but  which  was  not  a  literal  orb,  but  some 
peculiar  meteoric  splendour,  some  celestial  pheno- 
menon, unprecedented,  and  not  entered  in  the 
charts  of  ancient  astronomy,  so  peculiar  and  striking 
as  to  be  significant  in  their  minds  that  One  was 
born  who  was  to  be  King  of  the  Jews. 

Others  again  think  that  by  "  the  sign  of  the  Son 
of  man"  is  meant  the  advent  of  Elijah.  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  that  Elijah  the  prophet  will 
literally  come,  and  herald  in  Christ's  second  advent, 
just  as  John  the  Baptist  literally  came  and  heralded 
in  Christ's  first  advent.  To  some  this  may  seem 
strange,  but  I  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion,  if 
it  be  believed  that  the  writers  of  the  sacred  volume 
meant  what  they  said.  And  if  Elijah  comes,  his 
voice  sounding  in  the  streets  of  Europe,  the  mys- 
terious appearance  of  one  who  comes  from  the 
realms  of  glory,  clothed  w^th  its  beauty,  and  spot- 
less as  its  holiest  tenantry,  warning  the  nations  in 
a  voice  such  as  was  never  heard  before,  and  with 
an  eloquence  such  as  men  never  uttered  before, 
will  be  a  phenomenon  so  startling  and  striking, 
that  God's  people  will  hail  him  as  the  precursor  of 
the  advent  of  Jesus,  while  the  world  will  probably 
treat  him  as  Herod  treated  John  the  Baptist  — 
listen  to  him  for  a  moment,  and  then  turn  round, 
and  attempt  to  destroy  him.  At  all  events,  we 
gather  that  there  will  be  some  great  sign  that  is  to 


188  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

precede  the  advent  of  Him  wlio  is  King  of  kings 
and  Lord  of  lords. 

But  some  will  say,  we  cannot  accept  this  pro- 
phecy of  Christ's  return,  which  is  clearly  pre- 
jMillennial,  or  personal.  May  it  not  be  spiritual  ? 
I  answer,  spiritually  he  has  come  already.  "Where  » 
two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  E'ame, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  If  we  meet  in 
Christ's  name,  Christ  is  in  the  midst  of  us.  We 
have  not  to  look  forward  to  his  advent  in  that 
sense,  for  in  that  sense  he  is  here.  Again;  this 
must  denote  an  advent  different  from  that  spiritual 
presence  that  is  understood  to  be  in  all  churches. 
He  says,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  teaching  them  to 
observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you :  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world."  And  yet,  he  says,  in  another 
part,  that  he  will  come  again,  and  receive  us  to 
himself. 

In  the  second  place;  it  is  not  his  providential 
advent.  Christ  is  in  every  fact  in  history,  in  every 
incident  of  the  world,  reigning,  ruling,  ordering 
all  things  to  the  glory  of  his  name,  and  to  the  good 
of  his  people. 

.  It  has  also  a  character  and  a  concomitant  so 
peculiar,  that  it  cannot  refer  to  his  coming  to  de- 
stroy Jerusalem.  Can  it  be  said  that  on  his  advent 
to  subvert  that  illustrious  capital,  the  Jews  looked 
upon  Him  whom  they  had  pierced  and  mourned  ? 


CELESTIAL  AND  TERRESTRIAL.  189 

They  rather  blasphemed  the  holy  name  by  which 
they  were  called.  Can  it  be  said  that  when 
Jesus  came  to  destroy  Jerusalem,  he  gathered 
his  elect  from  the  four  winds  of  heaven  ?  Can  it 
be  said  that  he  came  to  destroy  Jerusalem  in  the 
splendour  of  the  lightning,  in  the  cloud,  with 
power  and  great  glory  ?  K  you  will  so  torture 
language  as  to  apply  these  verses  to  that  provi- 
dential advent,  you  must  not  blame  the  Eoman 
Catholic  if  he  find  in  Scripture  transubstantiation, 
purgatory,  and  the  Avorship  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 
We  should  take  the  Bible  literally,  wherever  its 
literal  interpretation  is  not  inconsistent  with  its 
own  previous  explanations ;  and  until  we  can  see 
a  better  than  the  literal  interpretation,  we  must 
accept  it  as  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  For 
instance,  it  was  said  by  an  ancient  prophet,  that 
Jesus  should  come  sitting  upon  an  ass,  and  a  colt, 
the  foal  of  an  ass.  An  ancient  interpreter  of  one 
class  would  say,  *'We  cannot  suppose  that  the 
Messiah  will  come  literally  so ;  we  must  understand 
it  to  mean  that  he  will  come  in  veiy  lowly  circum- 
stances." But  he  literally  came  sitting  upon  an 
ass,  and  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass ;  and  he  quotes 
the  prophecy  as  literally  and  verbatim  fulfilled  in 
his  case.  We  therefore  understand  that  this  pro- 
phecy will  be  literally  fulfilled,  and  justly  think 
that  to  apply  it  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  is 
to  apply  phraseology  where  it  is  not  carried  out  by 
actual  facts. 

Some  excellent  Christians  think  that  it  refers  to 


190  SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES. 

Christ's  coming  at  each  individual's  death.  But 
when  a  Christian  dies,  does  Jesus  come  hke  hght- 
ning  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other  ?  When 
a  Christian  dies,  can  it  he  said  that  Jesus  comes 
from  heaven  with  power  and  with  great  glory  ? 
Does  the  trumpet  then  sound  ?  Do  the  dead  then 
rise  ?  Do  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  then  mourn  ? 
It  cannot  he  said  so.  It  must  therefore  refer  to  a 
coming  or  an  advent  subsequent  to  this,  and  such 
as  is  described  in  other  passages  of  Scripture,  where 
Jesus  is  said  to  come  the  second  time  to  them  that 
look  for  him  without  a  sin-offering  unto  salvation. 

The  Apostles  themselves  thought  that  Christ  was 
then  about  to  restore  the  kingdom  to  Jerusalem, 
and  they  said  (Acts  i.  6),  ""Wilt  thou  at  this  time 
restore  again  the  kingdom  to  Israel?"  But  what 
was  his  answer?  "It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the 
times  or  the  seasons."  He  assumes  that  the  king- 
dom will  be  restored ;  he  does  not  condemn  their 
idea  that  the  kingdom  will  be  restored ;  but  only, 
"  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons." 
And  again,  when  they  stood  looking  steadfastly  to- 
ward heaven,  as  Christ  ascended  in  the  cloud  visibly 
before  them,  "  two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  ap- 
parel, which  also  said,  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand 
ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  this  same  Jesus,  which  is 
taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like 
manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven;"  that 
is,  in  the  cloud  with  power  and  with  great  glory. 

We  have  therefore  in  all  these  passages  a  refe- 
rence to  Christ's  second  or  personal  advent ;  and 
therefore  I  believe,  with  Job,  "  that  my  Kedeemer 


CELESTIAL  AND  TERRESTRIAL.  191 

liveth,  and  that  I  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day  upon 
the  earth :  and  though  after  my  skin  worms  des- 
troy this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God ; 
whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and  mine  eyes  shall 
behold,  and  not  another."  What  a  glorious  hope ! 
What  a  blessed  thought,  that  we  are  not  forsaken 
oi-phans,  that  our  world  is  not  a  cast-off  orb,  but 
that  Jesus  has  engraven  it  upon  the  palms  of  his 
hands,  that  his  name  shall  be  engraven  upon  it, 
that  it  shall  reflect  his  image,  and  that  a  world 
that  began  with  Paradise  shall  end  with  a  better,  a 
brighter,  and  a  more  glorious  one  than  that  with 
which  it  dawned ! 

But  it  is  added,  "  He  shall  send  his  angels  with 
a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather 
together  his  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one 
end  of  heaven."  Let  us  here  recollect  the  parable 
in  which  it  is  said,  "  the  harvest  is  the  end  of  the 
world,  and  the  reapers  are  the  angels."  But  what 
do  the  angels  do  ?  They  first  gather  the  wheat  into 
barns,  and  then  they  cast  the  tares  into  the  fire. 
So  here,  Christ  sends  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  his  elect  from  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 

Are  we  amongst  the  elect  ?  Shall  we  be  num- 
bered with  the  wheat  ?  Shall  we  be  gathered  into 
Christ's  barns  ?  Are  we  prepared  to  enter  into  that 
rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God  ?  Who 
are  the  elect?  It  is  not  difficult  to  know.  The 
doctrine  of  election  itself  is  a  mystery,  but  the  elect 
themselves  are  not  undistinguishable,  even  in  the 
midst  of  this  obscure  but  perplexing  dispensation. 
They  are  those  who  have  been  chosen  of  Christ. 


192  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

The  word  "elect"  means  chosen  —  they  that  are 
chosen  of  Christ.  Such  unquestionahly  there  are. 
"  Chosen  in  Christ  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  that  ye  should  be  hol}^"  "Elect  according 
to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father,  through 
sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  unto  obedience,  aftd 
sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."  (1  Pet. 
i,  2.)  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  the  doctrine 
of  election  is  true.  But  what  is  that  doctrine? 
That  God  saves  me,  not  because  of  anything  in  me, 
or  of  anything  done  by  me,  but  because  of  the 
riches  of  his  grace,  and  the  sovereignty  of  his 
Almighty  love.  But  there  are  some  Christians 
who  deny  that  there  is  any  such  doctrine;  but, 
singular  enough,  while  they  deny  the  name,  they 
admit  the  reality.  Take  the  lowest  Arminian,  who 
is  a  true  Christian,  and  ask  him,  "Do  you  mean  to 
say  that  the  first  movement  towards  heaven  is  on 
my  part?"  he  will  answer,  "N"o,  no;  God  must  first 
draw  before  we  follow ;  God  must  first  speak  before 
we  answer."  Well,  grant  me  that,  and  I  will  not 
quarrel  about  the  name  election,  since  we  agree 
about  the  reality ;  for  if  I  am  chosen  irrespective 
of  anything  in  me,  it  matters  not  whether  that 
choice  was  made  ten  minutes  ago,  or  thousands  of 
years  ago.  It  is  not  a  question  of  time,  but  a  ques- 
tion of  grace ;  and  if  you  admit  that  all  grace  in 
the  heart  of  the  believer  is  not  an  original  thing, 
but  a  response  to  a  first  movement  on  God's  part, 
you  grant  the  substance  even  when  you  deny  the 
name  of  the  doctrine  of  election.    But  if  you  ask, 


CELESTIAL   AND   TERRESTRIAL.  193 

Who  are  they  who  are  elect?  They  who  have 
chosen  Christ  to  be  their  Saviour.  Make  sure  that 
you  have  chosen  Christ,  and  never  trouble  your- 
selves about  the  question,  whether  he  has  chosen 
you.  Do  not  try  to  peer  into  God's  hidden  book, 
which  no  man  can  penetrate,  but  read  God's  re- 
vealed book,  and  compare  your  character  w^ith  it, 
for  things  revealed  are  fdr  us  and  our  children.  If 
you  love  Christ,  that  proves  that  he  loves  you ;  for 
what  is  his  own  word,  "  We  love  him,  because  he 
first  loved  us."  If  I  want  to  know  whether  I  am 
elect,  I  do  not  begin  at  heaven  and  trace  downward 
to  my  heart,  but  I  begin  at  my  heart  and  trace 
upward  to  heaven.  I  do  not  try  to  hook  the  ladder 
to  the  top  of  the  monument  first,  but  I  put  the  base 
on  the  ground,  and  then  place  the  top  of  the  ladder 
against  the  top  of  the  monument.  High  predesti- 
narians  first  try  to  prove  that  they  are  elect,  and 
then  they  infer  that  they  may  live  as  they  like; 
whereas,  the  proper  way  is  to  see  whether  we  live 
the  life  of  the  saints  of  God,  and  then  infer  that 
our  name  is  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life,  in 
which  are  the  names  of  all  that  believe. 

Those  who  are  elect  and  are  chosen  of  Christ, 
believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  rest  upon  his 
sacrifice  for  the  pardon  of  sin,  are  clothed  with 
his  righteousness  as  their  only  title  of  heaven,  and 
approach  a  communion-table  and  the  judgment-seat 
trusting  only  in  this,  that  "He  who  knew  no  sin 
was  made  sin  for  them,  that  they  might  be  mftde 
the  righteousness  of  God  in  him,' 
17 


194  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

The  elect  are  the  regenerate.  Every  man  who 
is  born  again  is  elect.  If  yonr  tastes  have  been 
altered,  if  you  now  love  what  once  you  hated,  if 
you  like  the  Bible  much  better  than  a  novel  or  ro- 
mance, if  you  like  the  house  of  God  vastly  more 
than  the  playhouse,  if  you  prefer  the  things  that 
belong  to  your  peace  more  than  the  idle  topics  and 
political  squabbles  of  the  day,  you  give  evidence 
that  you  are  a  child  of  God.  It  is  not  alleged  that 
you  should  take  no  interest  in  the  things  of  time, 
but  that  if  you  be  the  elect,  the  things  of  eternity 
will  occupy  a  larger  space  in  your  hearts. 

The  elect  are  the  sons  of  God.  "Ye  have 
received  the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry, 
Abba,  Father.  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness 
with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of  God ; 
and  if  children,  then  heirs ;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint- 
heirs  with  Christ."  Election  is  the  root,  sonship 
and  service  are  the  blossoms  and  fruit  that  grow 
upon  it. 

Let  us  see  here  the  safety  of  the  people  of  God. 
Let  the  sun  be  darkened  in  his  orbit,  let  the  moon 
become  pale,  let  the  stars  fall  from  their  sockets, 
let  all  nature  be  covered  with  a  funeral  pal],  let  the 
first  throes  of  nature's  desolation  be  felt,  let  the 
footstep  of  the  approaching  Judge  be  echoing  at 
our  doors — nothing  shall  separate  us  from  the  love 
of  God  that  is  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord ;  for  he  will 
gather  his  elect,  however  concealed,  obscured, 
hidden,  or  suftering,  from  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 

Behold  the  true  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ — 


CELESTIAL   AND  TERRESTRIAL.  195 

Christ  ill  the  midst  of  them.  Those  who  are  now 
ecclesiastically,  mechanically,  materially  divided, 
will  then  be  drawn  to  Christ,  and  constitute  toge- 
ther the  bride  meeting  the  Bridegroom,  the  long- 
waiting  widow  seeing  her  Husband  return  from  the 
skies,  "  and  so  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord."  When 
we  hear  urged  against  Protestantism  that  it  is  des- 
titute of  unity,  we  should  recollect  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  perfect  unity  in  the  Church,  just  as 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  perfect  holiness  in  the  in- 
dividual Christian's  heart.  The  Apostle  tells  us, 
that  as  long  as  there  is  a  ministry  there  will  not  be 
unity ;  for  what  does  he  say  in  Eph.  iv.  11 — 13  ? 
"He  gave  some,  apostles;  and  some,  prophets; 
and  some,  evangelists ;  and  some,  pastors  and 
teachers ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body 
of  Christ;  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the 
faith," — implying  that  the  existence  of  a  ministry 
is  to  produce  an  ultimate  unity,  but  that  as  long  as 
that  ministry  exists,  that  is,  as  long  as  this  dispen- 
sation lasts,  perfect  unity  will  not  be. 

Kotice  also  the  catholicity  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  It  is  selected  from  every  tribe,  and  kin- 
dred, and  tongue.  The  broken  fragments  are  now 
its  composition,  but  then  they  shall  be  all  combined 
and  consolidated  for  ever. 

Let  us  see  the  true  visibility  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  All  creation  groans  and  travails  in  pain, 
waiting — for  what  ?  The  manifestation  of  the  sons 
of  God ;  that  is,  the  visibility  of  the  Church.    The 


196  SIGNS    OP   THE   TIMES. 

Churcli  of  Rome  says  she  has  visihility,  catholicity, 
unity,  antiquity.  In  all  these  things  she  pretends 
to  have  what  the  Millennial  church  only  shall  have. 
She  claims  noble  prerogatives,  that  are  only  to  be 
actual  when  Christ  comes,  and  gathers  from  the 
four  winds  all  them  that  are  his. 

Are  we  among  the  elect  ?  Are  w^e  believers  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  If  we  be  Christians,  whe- 
ther he  takes  us  to  himself,  or  comes  to  us,  it  will 
be  equally  well.  But  the  great  question  of  the  day 
should  be,  "Am  I  a  Christian ?"  It  is  easy  to  be 
so.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  our  being  so. 
Christ  invites  us  to  become  so.  He  merely  bids  us 
lay  aside  the  bondage  and  the  service  of  sin,  and 
Satan,  and  the  world ;  and  decide  for  the  service 
and  the  acceptance  of  him  whose  service  is  perfect 
freedom,  and  communion  with  whom  is  the  high- 
est happiness  that  human  nature  is  susceptible  of 
here  below  —  a  happiness  that,  like  the  opening 
spring,  will  melt  into  the  perfect  happiness  of  the 
everlasting  summer,  the  first  rays  of  which  begin 
to  sprinkle  the  distant  hills,  intimating  already 
that  the  sun,  long  below^  the  horizon,  is  about  to 
ascend  to  his  meridian  throne,  and  send  down  his 
midday  splendour  upon  a  world  ever  holy  and  ever 
happy. 


THE  DESIRE  OP  ALL  NATIONS.        197 

vn. 

THE   DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS. 

The  feeling  in  the  heart  of  Christendom,  ex- 
pressed by  "the  Desire  of  all  nations,"  is  signifi- 
cant of  the  end  in  proportion  to  its  intensity  and 
depth.  Let  us  analyze  it  as  a  past  thirst  partly 
satisfied,  and  as  a  present  longing  that  can  be  met 
only  when  He  who  awakens  and  fills  it  shall  come, 
the  Hope  of  the  Church,  the  Heir  of  the  world, 
"  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  Yet  once,  it  is 
a  little  while,  and  I  will  shake  the  heavens,  and 
the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the  dry  land ;  and  I  will 
shake  all  nations,  and  the  Desire  of  all  nations 
shall  come :  and  I  will  fill  this  house  with  glory, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  The  silver  is  mine,  and 
the  gold  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  The 
glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  the 
former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts :  and  in  this  place 
will  I  give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.*'  (Hag- 
gai  ii.  6 — 9.) 

It  is  very  remarkable,  as  well  as  refi-eshing  to  a 
Christian  mind,  to  go  back  along  the  current  of 
history,  and  to  read  those  ancient  prophecies  which 
relate  to  the  person,  the  coming,  and  advent  in 
glorj',  of  the  Son  of  God.  The  angel  said  to  the 
woman,  "Come  and  seethe  place"  —  that  is,  the 
17* 


198  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES. 

grave  —  "  where  the  Lord  lay."  "We  may  go  hack 
to  those  ancient  pfophecies  in  the  same  spirit,  and 
according  to  that  invitation,  see  where  Christ  in 
ancient  times  was  revealed  to  the  Fathers.  And 
we  cannot  open  a  single  prophet  without  seeing 
God's  mercy  constantly  promising,  God's  faithful- 
ness constantly  fulfilling.  "We  have,  in  the  glad 
tidings  of  great  joy  to  all  people,  the  fulfilment  of 
a  thousand  promises,  that  sparkle  like  stars  in  the 
firmament  in  every  page  of  God's  holy  Word; 
from  the  dim  and  distant  one,  "  The  woman's  seed 
shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head,"  to  the  nearer  one, 
of  the  greatest  magnitude  and  lustre,  "To  us  a 
child  is  horn,  to  us  a  son  is  given ;  the  government 
shall  he  upon  his  shoulders;  his  name  shall  be 
called  Wonderful,  the  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God, 
the  Prince  of  peace,  the  Father  of  the  age  to  come" 
—  or  "the  everlasting  Father."  The  Jews  plainly 
enough  expected  the  Messiah ;  their  whole  hearts 
and  hopes  were  set  and  centred  upon  him.  "  Tell 
ye  the  daughter  of  Zion,  Behold,  thy  King  cometh 
unto  thee.  It  shall  be  said  in  that  day,  "  Lo,  this 
is  our  God ;  we  have  waited  for  him,  and  he  will 
save  ns."  "Your  father  Abraham,"  says  Jesus, 
"  rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and  he  saw  it  and  was 
glad."  Therefore  the  birth  of  Christ  was  the  great 
hope  of  Israel.  Every  Jewish  father  looked  forward 
to  it;  every  Jewish  mother  joyfully  expected  it;  the 
whole  nation  of  Israel  had  their  hearts,  their  .afi*ec- 
tions,  and  their  hopes,  centred  there ;  and  as  their 
bondage  became  more  bitter,  and  their  enslavement 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.        199 

to  the  Roman  emperor  more  complete,  their  hearts 
longed  the  more  for  the  mighty  Deliverer,  of  whom 
they  should  be  able  to  sing,  in  songs  of  adoring 
gratitude,  "  This  is  our  God ;  we  have  waited  for 
him,  and  he  will  save  us."  In  the  second  chapter 
of  Haggai,  w^e  are  told  that  God's  people  were  in  a 
state  of  very  great  distress  and  depression  of  mind ; 
and  then,  as  on  every  similar  occasion,  God  com- 
forted them  with  the  hope  of  a  Messiah  to  come. 
It  is  most  remarkable,  in  reading  God's  dealings 
v/ith  his  ancient  people,  how  on  every  occasion  the 
comfort  that  he  gives  them  is  not  temporal,  but 
eternal  deliverance  —  not  some  elevation  in  this 
world,  but  the  hope  of  a  Saviour,  who  should  be 
Christ  the  Lord.  We  can  see  throughout  the 
whole  of  these  promises  that  Jesus  was  constantly 
preached  to  God's  people  as  their  comfort,  and  the 
very  hope  of  him  as  sufficient  to  compensate  for 
all  their  sorrow,  their  affliction,  and  their  trials. 
He  was  spoken  of  as  the  Saviour,  Christ  the  Lord, 
as  "  the  Desire  of  all  nations."  In  what  shape  can 
Christ  be  called  "the  Desire  of  all  nations?"  We 
answer,  all  nations  felt  in  their  hearts  wants,  long- 
ings, and  losses,  which  nothing  but  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  of  glory  could  thoroughly  and  com- 
pletely remove.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the  nations 
knew  that  Christ  would  come,  who  should  remove 
their  wants,  and  gratify  their  aspirations  and  their 
hopes ;  but  all  the  nations  of  heathendom  felt  in 
themselves — and  their  best  and  most  gifted  spirits 
felt  it  most  — a  want,  a  loss,  a  sense  of  ruin,  that 


200  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

needed  reparation;  and  losses  that  needed  to  be 
removed,  and  hunger  that  this  world's  bread  could 
not  satisfy,  and  thirst  that  this  V7orld's  fountains 
could  not  remove :  and  they  earnestly  desired  one 
who  would  allay  these  longings,  unconscious  that 
the  burden  of  a  thousand  Jewish  prophecies  was 
the  only  Being  who  could  possibly  meet  their 
wants  and  satisfy  their  desires.  These  yearnings, 
and  hopes,  and  expectations  of  all  the  Gentile  na- 
tions, wandered  amongst  them,  airy,  undefined, 
like  shadowy  spectres — knocking  at  every  door  for 
satisfaction,  drinking  from  every  fountain,  if  per- 
adventure  they  might  be  removed ;  and  only  did 
they  find  their  resting-place  when  He  came  whom 
they  knew  not,  but  who  was  ever  promised  and 
pledged  as  the  only  Being  that  could  satisfy  all 
their  longings,  and  remove  all  their  anxieties.  In 
this  state  of  mind  the  heathen  drew  upon  imagina- 
tion in  order  to  meet  the  demands  of  their  hearts ; 
they  deprived  the  mine  of  its  marble,  they  spoiled 
the  forest  of  its  oak,  they  exhausted  the  resources 
of  genius,  they  traversed  the  wide  world  in  search 
of  what  could  satisfy  their  idea  of  excellence,  per- 
fection, and  happiness,  and  endeavoured  by  their 
own  strength  to  remove  that  thirst  which  was  to 
be.  removed  only  by  him  who  was  "  the  Desire  of 
all  nations."  They  longed  for  a  Saviour  they 
never  heard  of;  they  desired  the  advent  of  a  satis- 
faction, the  tidings  of  whose  approach  they  did  not 
know.  The  unconscious  prophecy  of  heathendom 
has  been  the  subject  of  much  writing;   and   the 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.        201 

unconscious  aspiration  of  heathendom  after  Christ, 
"the  Desire  of  all  nations,"  is  very  much  a  corre- 
sponding companion  to  it. 

But  let  us  look  at  individual  feelings,  wants,  and 
desires,  and  see  how  Christ  meets  them ;  and  how 
far  the  Gentile  nations,  that  knew  not,  and  that 
now  know  not  Christ,  have  those  feelings. 

First,  Christ  was  "  the  Desire  of  all  nations,"  as 
a  Eedeemer  from  sin.  The  Greeks  and  Romans 
had  not  those  enlightened  apprehensions  of  the 
nature,  the  misery,  and  the  issues  of  moral  trans- 
gression, that  we  have ;  but  the  very  worst  and  the 
most  degraded  had  a  lingering  conviction  that 
some  great  moral  blight  had  passed  into  the 
human  soul  —  had  defaced  all  its  ancient  beauty, 
glory,  and  perfection  —  had  introduced  into  the 
world  itself  all  its  disturbance,  mutilation,  and  dis- 
tress ;  and  they  felt  themselves  the  victims  of  sin 
—  they  recognised  its  domination  as  the  secret  of 
their  ills.  Every  school  in  ancient  Greece  had  its 
prescriptions  for  its  removal  —  every  philosopher 
some  great  system  which,  if  accepted,  he  thought 
would  act  upon  the  world  like  a  charm,  or  be  to 
the  world  a  complete  relief;  but  there  was  a  sense 
among  all  the  heathen  that  moral  transgression 
was  in  some  way  the  root  of  all  their  physical,  their 
intellectual,  their  social,  and  their  national  distress; 
and  that,  unless  the  evil  in  man's  heart  could  be 
'eradicated,  the  sufferings  in  man's  condition  never 
could  be  laid.  They  did  not  know  that  Christ 
should  come,  a  Redeemer  from  sin ;  but  this  was 


202  SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES. 

what  they  blindly  desired,  and  he  is  exactly  what 
meets  that  desire  ;  for  in  him  we  have  remission 
through  his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins. 
And  it  shows  the  profound  philosophy,  if  I  might 
use  the  word,  of  this  blessed  Gospel,  that  Christ 
came  into  the  world  not  to  ameliorate,  as  the  first 
thing,  man's  outward  state,  but  to  expel  from 
man's  heart  the  secret  of  the  fever  that  convulses 
and  disturbs  him  continually ;  and,  by  the  removal 
of  the  source  of  the  evil,  to  ameliorate  gradually, 
and  ultimately  altogether,  the  e\nls  that  oppress 
him.  The  evils  that  afflict  society  are  not  like 
drift-wood  or  loose  stones  lying  upon  its  surface, 
which  you  may  sweep  away  with  a  strong  arm  and 
with  tolerable  diligence ;  but  like  the  roots  of  a 
primeval  forest — the  gnarled  roots  of  ancient  oaks 
—  that  have  struck  deep  into  the  heart,  or  inter- 
twined with  the  very  feelings,  affections,  appetites, 
and  passions  of  the  sOul :  so  much  so  that  none  but 
He  that  made  man  can  be  the  Physician  that  can 
cure  man.  And,  blessed  be  God,  just  when  our 
need  was  the  sorest  and  our  ruin  the  most  intole- 
rable, "  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  born  of  a  woman, 
made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were 
under  the  law;  that  we  might  (no  more  be  the 
slaves  of  sin,  but)  receive  the  adoption  of  sons." 
Thus,  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  the  Redeemer 
from  sin,  a  response  to  the  inmost,  the  deepest 
desire,  Of  fallen  humanity. 

Christ,   as   the  Redeemer  from   death,   is    the 
"Desire  of  all  nations;"   he  meets  that  which 


TUE   DESIRE   OF   ALL   NATIONS.  203 

is  the  desire  of  all  nations.  The  soberest  man  in 
the  ancient  heathen  world  had  a  deep  and  a  very 
stroncr  conviction  that  death  is  not  the  normal  state 
of  man ;  that  it  is  something  introduced  since  the 
creation  of  man ;  and  that  he  was  not  originally 
made  to  die :  and  hence,  amid  all  the  traditions  of 
heathendom  that  have  floated  down  the  stream  of 
time,  there  was  kept  constantly  afloat,  never  sub- 
merged, the  beautiful  recollection  that  once  there 
was  a  golden  age  when  there  was  no  death ;  and  still 
the  strong  and  ineradicable  hope  that  man  would 
cleave  to  with  his  last  gasp,  that  there  should  be  a 
golden  age  again,  when  sickness,  and  sorrow,  and 
death  should  for  ever  flee  away.  Even  in  heathen 
times  man  would  not  accept  the  grave  as  his  only 
and  his  ultimate  home;  he  could  not  believe  it 
possible  that  this  exquisite  mechanism  of  ours, 
when  dissolved  in  dust,  was  to  be  the  end  of  us. 
Cicero — who  stood  upon  the  loftiest  pinnacle,  and 
seems  with  Socrates  and  Plato  to  have  caught  from 
afar,  it  may  be  refracted  and  reflected,  the  first 
beams  of  the  Son  of  Righteousness  —  owned,  "I 
cannot  demonstrate  logically  the  immortality  of 
the  soul ;  but  such  is  my  conviction  that  it  is  true, 
that  though  I  cannot  prove  it,  I  will  never  let  it 
go,  but  hold  it  fast  as  I  believe  it  is  true."  When 
he  said  so,  he  only  expressed  what  we  all  well 
know,  that  there  are  instincts  in  our  hearts  truer 
than  logic  —  that  there  are  conclusions  that  spring 
from  the  depths  of  man's  soul  far  juster  than 
mathematics  can  prove — and  that  God  has  left  in 


204  SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES, 

US  these  lingering  lights,  these  inextinguishable 
recollections  of  our  pristine  glory,  tlfat  are '  to  us, 
in  the  depths  of  our  ruin,  prophecies  that  the  glory 
will  return  again.  So  the  heathen  felt  that  death 
could  not  be  the  end  of  them.  They  could  not  see 
a  light  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death ;  they 
could  not  see  the  other  end  of  the  long,  dark,  and 
dreary  tunnel ;  but  they  believed,  nevertheless,  that 
there  was  an  end  to  it ;  and  whether  they  believed 
it  from  the  instincts  of  their  nature,  or  from  some 
of  the  unspent  echoes  that  still  reverberated  through 
the  dark  and  dreary  wastes  of  the  world  of  God's 
first  truth  proclaimed  in  Paradise,  we  know  not ; 
but  they  held  fast  this — that  death  was  unnatural, 
that  man  was  not  meant  to  die.  They  believed 
the  matter  would  yet  be  put  right ;  and  that  at  all 
events,  if  the  body  must  be  resolved  into  its  parent 
dust,  that  the  soul  would  escape  from  the  body  as 
lightning  parts  from  the  cloud,  and  not  rest  till  it 
was  in  joy  in  the  presence  of  God.  N'ow,  what 
they  guessed,  and:  hoped,  and  yearned,  and  longed 
for,  as  their  deepest,  their  universal  desire,  we 
know :  "  Unto  you  is  born  the  Prince  of  Life ;  he 
that  believe th  on  me  hath  life ;  I  am  the  resurrec- 
tion and  the  life."  "All  that  are  in  their  graves 
shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  shall 
come  forth  ;  they  that  have  done  good  fo  the  resur- 
rection of  everlasting  life." 

Christ  is  "the  Desire  of  all  nations,"  inasmuch 
as  he  is  the  Restorer  of  the  world.  I  mentioned 
that  the  heathen  longed  for  the  restoration  of  all 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.        205 

things.  They  believed  that  the  golden  age  would 
again  return.  They  did  not  know  how  it  was  to 
return,  or  by  what  power  it  was  to  be  brought  back 
again;  but  still  they  would  not  give  up  hope. 
When  nations  cease  to  hope,  they  wither  down  to 
their  very  roots ;  and  if  humanity  had  ever  ceased 
to  hope  for  something  better  than  it  had,  it  would 
have  committed  universal  suicide.  But  there  seem 
to  have  been  left  in  man's  will  hopes  that  could 
not,  and  that  would  not,  be  extinguished ;  and  both 
Jew  and  Gentile  in  ancient  times,  and  the  most 
savage  heathen  in  modern  times,  have  a  recollection 
that  the  world  was  once  in  a  better  state,  and  a 
strong  ineradicable  belief,  that  the  world  will  be 
restored  to  a  better  state  still.  And,  very  singular, 
the  names  given  to  the  earth  by  both  Greeks  and 
Komaus,  both  either  commemorate  its  being  once 
pure,  or  are  prophecies  or  promises  that  it  will  be 
pure  again.  For  instance,  the  Greeks  called  the 
world  cosmos.  The  meaning  of  the  word  cosmos, 
from  which  comes  our  word  "  cosmetic,"  is  what 
is  beautiful  or  perfect.  And  the  Romans,  as  if  the 
same  idea  had  overspread  all  heathendom,  called 
the  world  mundus,  which  means  that  which  is 
clean,  pure,  perfect,  undefiled.  In  either  case,  two 
names  so  singular — the  one  not  borrowed  from  the 
other,  one  not  the  translation  of  the  other — words 
which  sprung  into  human  speech  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  human  anticipations — were  to  heathendom 
the  only  shreds  of  a  Gospel  that  they  had,  the  pro- 
phecy that  the  earth  should  again  be  cosmos  — 
18 


206  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES 

beautiful ;  again  be  mundus — ^pure ;  and  all  things 
restored  to  their  pristine  lovehness,  glory,  and  per- 
fection. The  Apostle  tells  us,  in  words  that  we 
know  to  be  true,  that  their  hope  in  this  matter  was 
right.  "  The  whole  creation,"  says  the  Apostle, 
"groaneth  and  travaileth  together  in  pain  until 
now ;"  what  intensity  of  expression !  But  it  does 
so ;  "  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  body."  The  Apostle  represents  the 
earth  as  a  stricken  creature,  mourning  and  com- 
plaining to  its  God ;  and  longing,  and  hoping,  and 
praying,  that  one  day  it  may  be  delivered  from  its 
burden,  purified  of  its  pollution,  disinfected  of  its 
poison,  and  made  again  the  earth,  the  happy 
mother  of  a  happy  family,  reigning  and  rejoicing 
upon  it.  And  the  Apostle  tells  us  it  will  be  so ; 
that  all  things  wait  for  this,  when  the  earth  will  be 
restored,  all  creation's  deserts  rejoice  and  blossom 
as  the  rose ;  when  its  most  desecrated  spots  will  be 
consecrated,  its  most  barren  spots  fertilised,  and 
the  Paradise  that  shall  end  the  world  be  more 
glorious,  beautiful,  and  fair,  than  the  Paradise  with 
which  the  w^orld  began. 

JSTow  the  poor  heathen,  like  the  Christian,  (only 
in  less  measure,)  longed  for  a  better  world,  as  the 
sailor  for  his  haven,  the  traveller  for  his  home,  the 
exile  for  his  countiy,  humanity  for  its  restoration, 
its  paradise,  and  its  peace.  Christ  is  that  Eestorer. 
His  words  are,  "Behold,  I  make  all  things  new." 
And  in  the  twenty-first  and  twenty-second  chapters 
of  Kevelation,  you  have  the  prediction  that  all 


THE  DESIRE  OP  ALL  NATIONS.        207 

things  will  be  made  new,  and  that  what  the  hea- 
then hoped  for,  Christians  know,  believe,  and  are 
assured,  will  come  to  pass. 

Christ  is  the  Light  of  all  nations,  inasmuch  as  he 
is  now  —  and  professed  to  be,  when  he  came  into 
our  world  —  the  great  Revealer  of  God.  Far  as 
human  nature  had  gone  from  God,  it  never  yet 
gave  up  God  altogether.  Those  lingering  tradi 
tions  that  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  heathen,  and 
exist  still,  are  in  their  way  remarkable  and  indirect 
proofs  of  the  original  truth  from  which  they  come. 
Whenever  you  see  a  bad  sovereign  made  of  brass 
and  gilt,  it  is  the  proof  that  there  is  a  good  sove- 
reign :  the  imitation  is  always  the  evidence  of  an 
original.  So  all  these  lingering  truths,  recollections, 
dim  presentiments,  cherished  promises,  that  sur- 
vived and  found  expression  in  the  language  of  the 
heathen,  are  evidences  of  grand  original  truths,  of 
which  they  were  the  distorted  refractions.  Hea- 
thendom, in  its  greatest  aberration  from  God,  never 
forgot  him  or  renounced  him  altogether.  "No  na- 
tion, even  the  most  degraded,  has  been  found  in 
which  there  has  not  been  some  impression  of  a  God ; 
although  it  is  quite  possible  that  man  may  be  so 
brutalized,  that  the  animal  shall  comparatively  be 
the  grave  of  the  intellectual  and  the  moral.  As  we 
know  not  what  a  height  of  glory  and  magnificence 
man  may  be  lifted  to,  we  know  not  what  a  depth  of 
degradation  he  may  also  sink  to.  The  very  fact  that 
he  is  capable  of  such  elevation  and  such  degrada- 
tion, is  a  proof  of  the  greatness  of  man  as  he  was 


208  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES 

originally  made,  and  of  the  possibility,  not  to  say 
more,  of  his  restoration  to  a  nobler  and  a  better 
state.  If  we  go  to  the  most  cultivated  heathen 
nations,  we  find  their  sense  of  God,  their  desire  to 
know  God ;  their  longing  to  get  a  glimpse  of  his 
glory  as  he  passed  by  was  so  intense,  that  when 
God  would  not  come  to  them,  they  tried  by  their 
own  might  and  wisdom  to  realize  a  likeness  of  God 
upon  earth.  Take  the  remains  of  the  Greek  chisel 
—  what  magnificent  remains !  And  what  gave 
them  their  magnificence  ?  Why  is  it  that  the 
human  form  has  been  carved  with  a  beauty,  a 
symmetry,  a  magnificence,  far  beyond  the  original, 
and  to  imitate  which  is  the  aspiration  of  our  most 
gifted  statuaries  still  ?  "What  made  it  so  ?  It  was 
the  lingering  idea  of  a  God,  which  they  tried  to 
embody  in  the  yielding  and  obedient  marble,  that 
has  made  their  remains  so  magnificent  and  beauti- 
ful. Their  statuary  was  just  their  theology ;  it  was 
their  attempt  to  make  visible  Him  of  whom  they 
had  some  dim  and  distant  recollection :  it  was  the 
inspiration  of  this  idea  that  made  their  artistic 
works  so  beautiful  and  so  striking.  And  at  last, 
when  they  had  exhausted  all  the  resources  of  their 
great  genius,  and  produced  those  remains  that  are 
the  admiration  of  the  most  cultivated  minds,  in 
their  despair  they  built  an  altar  to  "  the  unknown 
God,"  by  which  they  confessed  that  man  by  search- 
ing could  not  find  out  the  Almighty.  He  might 
draw  out  the  secrets  of  the  earth  below,  he  might 
discover  all  the  glories  of  the  firmament  above,  he 


THE   DESIRE   OF  ALL   NATIONS.  209 

might  demonstrate  the  most  intricate  mathematical 
problems  and  theorems;  but  man  could  not  dis- 
cover God.  We  need  a  revelation  from  God  to  us. 
We  never  can  make  the  discovery  from  ourselves 
that  will  land  us  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  This 
which  the  heathen  so  earnestly  desired  is  accom- 
plished. Jesus  is  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  —  the 
virgin-born  is  Emmanuel,  God  with  us.  He  has 
come  down  from  heaven  to  earth,  so  near  to  us,  so 
close  to  us,  that  we  can  see  him,  comprehend  him, 
and  as  truly  hold  communion  with  him,  as  if  he 
were  our  friend,  our  companion,  and  our  brother ; 
and  yet  he  remains  so  holy,  bears  so  visibly  the 
trace  of  divinity,  that  whilst  he  is  so  near,  and  so 
close,  and  so  familiar,  we  can  yet  see  in  him  the 
brightness  of  the  Father's  glor}^  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person.  We  have  therefore,  in  Jesus, 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh ;  and  heathendom,  in  the 
reception  of  him,  the  gratification  of  its  deepest,  its 
most  anxious  and  cherished  desire.  But,  you  say, 
we  do  not  now  see  Christ,  we  are  not  now  in  con- 
tact with  him ;  and  to  speak  of  God  being  manifest 
in  the  flesh,  to  us  who  cannot  see  him,  is  not  cor- 
rect. We  answer,  we  can  form  as  correct  an  esti- 
mate of  a  person  by  the  acts  he  has  done,  or 
spoken,  and  written,  and  left  behind  him,  as  we 
could  if  he  were  actually  present  in  the  midst  of 
us.  Take,  for  instance,  the  great  poet  of  the  Eng- 
lish language,  Shakspeare :  I  believe  that,  by  read- 
ing his  writings,  you  can  form  a  more  just  and 
accurate  idea  of  Shakspeare  than  you  could  have 
18* 


210  SIGNS   or   THE  TIMES. 

done  if  yoa  liad  been  his  companion,  and  gone 
with  him  into  all  the  scenes  of  dissipation  and  fri- 
vohty  into  which  that  great  and  gifted  genius  so 
frequently  plunged.  The  proper  idea  of  a  person 
is  not  derived  from  his  bodily  presence,  but  from 
the  reflection  of  his  mind,  his  character,  his  con- 
duct, and  all  the  truths  he  has  left  behind  him. 
See  the  Apostles :  when  Christ  was  in  the  midst 
of  them — when  they  saw  him  bodily  present  in  the 
midst  of  them  —  how  dim,  how  obscure,  how  very 
erroneous,  were  their  comprehension  and  their  ap- 
prehension of  him ;  but  after  he  asqended  in  the 
cloud,  and  left  them,  these  very  disciples  that  had 
so  poor  an  idea  of  him  that  they  would  not  follow 
him,  when  he  was  alive  upon  the  earth,  to  Pilate's 
judgment-seat,  after  he  was  gone  had  so  just  an 
apprehension  of  his  glory,  that  they  followed  an 
unseen  Christ  to  martyrdom,  to  death,  to  shame, 
and  suffering.  The  Publicans  that  sat  with  him 
at  the  table,  the  fishermen  that  followed  him  at  his 
bidding,  never  understood  Christ  till  he  was  taken 
from  them.  Then  his  whole  life  became  a  trans- 
figuration ;  every  latent  feature  shone  out  with  un- 
earthly and  undying  lustre ;  they  saw  what  a  great 
Being  had  been  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  under- 
stood what  great  sin  they  perpetrated  who  crucified, 
not  a  man,  but  the  Lord  of  glory ;  and  what  shame 
belonged  to  them  who  had  seen,  and  understood, 
and  comprehended  so  little  of  him  who  had  been 
so  near  them.  A  character  with  whom  you  are 
familiar  seems  to  you,  as  long  as  he  is  with  you, 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.        211 

very  commonplace,  very  insignificant;  but  when 
some  friend  that  you  love  is  lifted  away  by  the  sea 
to  a  distant  land,  then  traits  appear  in  his  character 
when  absent  which  you  never  saw  when  he  was 
present ;  beauties  and  excellences  come  up  in  me- 
mory which  you  never  detected  when  you  gazed 
upon  his  countenance ;  and  you  discover  that  you 
have  a  deeper  and  a  clearer  idea  of  your  absent 
friend  in  consequence  of  his  absence  than  you  ever 
had  when  he  was  personally  present  in  the  midst 
of  you.  So  is  it  with  our  blessed  Lord.  He  is  now 
absent ;  but  he  has  left  on  the  sands  of  time  foot- 
prints so  legible  and  clear  —  he  has  bequeathed  in 
this  precious  legacy,  the  Bible,  such  an  autograph 
and  portrait  of  himself —  we  have  received  by  in- 
spired amanuenses  such  traits,  sketches,  sentiments, 
thoughts,  lessons,  miracles  of  beneficence,  and  feats 
of  power — that  we  have  a  more  clear  apprehension 
of  Christ  Jesus  as  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  than 
ever  the  apostles  had  when  they  were  with  him,  or 
they  that  saw  him  in  the  flesh,  and  listened  to  the 
wonderful  words  that  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth. 
And  this  deepening  desire,  this  growing  apprecia- 
tion of  his  excellence,  is  all  preparatory  to  that  day 
when  he  will  come  again,  no  more  the  Man  of  sor- 
rows, obscured  by  the  cloud,  but  the  Son  of  God, 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  with  power  and  great 
glory.  And  we  shall  then  find  that  the  loftiest 
apprehensions  we  cherished  of  his  excellence 
came  infinitely  short  of  the  grand  and  lastmg 
reality. 


212  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

Christ  is  the  Desire  of  nations  as  the  perfect 
Man.  It  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  thoughts 
in  the  Bible,  that  we  have  an  instance  of  the  possi- 
bility of  the  absolute  perfection  of  this  nature  of 
ours.  Christ  is  as  precious  to  me  as  the  reveal er 
of  what  man  may  be  made,  as  the  revealer  of  what 
God  is  to  man.  What  a  sublime  thought,  that 
these  limbs  of  ours  can  express  divinity !  "What  a 
sublime  thought  it  is,  that  this  fallen  shrine  of  our 
humanity  may  be  rebuilt,  reconsecrated,  and  be 
the  very  mirror  of  Deity  itself!  What  a  thought, 
that  Deity  has  looked  through  our  eyes,  has  listened 
through  our  ears,  has  walked  along  our  streets,  and 
spoken  our  speech,  and  sympathized  with  all  our 
sufferings,  and  presented  a  heart  that  gives  a  re- 
sounding echo  to  all  our  griefs  and  our  woes ! 
What  was  the  greatest  wish  of  the  heathen,  in 
addition  to  those  already  explained?  It  was  to 
see  the  perfect  man.  Every  school  in  Greece  has 
its  heau  ideal  of  a  perfect  man.  The  Epicureans 
thought  that  the  perfect  man  was  he  that  gratified 
his  appetites,  and  lived  just  as  he  liked.  The 
Stoics  thought  that  the  perfect  man  was  he  who 
neither  wept  nor  laughed,  neither  rejoiced  nor 
sorrowed,  but,  in  proportion  as  he  approached  the 
granite,  the  nearer  he  approached  perfection.  But 
we  have  in  Christ  Jesus  the  perfect  Man ;  not  the 
granite  man  of  the  Stoics — for  Jesus  "rejoiced  in 
spirit;"  Jesus  wept,  and  sympathized  with  human 
joys  and  human  sorrows — nor  yet  the  man  of  the 
Epicureans,  to  whom  this  world,  and  the  gratifica- 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.        213 

tion  of  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  was  all ;  but  one  who, 
in  the  world,  was  not  of  it  —  one  who  presents  a 
character  so  perfect  that  even  the  most  violent 
opponents  of  Christianity  have  not  dared  to  touch 
it ;  and  Rousseau,  the  sceptic,  has  given  the  most 
beautiful  portrait  of  him  whom  he  denied  to  be 
the  only  Saviour  of  the  world.  In  this  respect 
Christ  answers  and  meets  the  desire  of  all  nations. 

He  meets  the  desire  of  all  nations  in  that  he  is 
the  perfect  Sacrifice.  Jew  and  Gentile  were  con- 
stantly offering  up  sacrifices ;  and  I  do  not  know 
a  more  impressive  proof  of  the  universal  conscious- 
ness of  man  that  some  great  curse  had  intervened 
between  God  and  mankind,  than  the  fact  that  in 
every  nation  that  we  know,  sacrifices  —  and  sacri- 
fices approaching  in  value  to  the  greatness  of  the 
sin  that  had  been  perpetrated  —  were  universally 
practised;  and  among  the  ancients  even  human 
sacrifices  were  oflered,  in  the  hope  that  human  sins 
might  be  forgiven.  The  sacrificial  rites  of  Levi, 
which  sceptics  complain  of  as  so  cumbersome,  and 
unwortny  of  God,  are  simplicity  itself  when  com- 
pared with  the  cumbersome  and  shocking  rites  of 
the  polished  Greeks  and  the  civilized  Romans ;  and 
all  these  sacrifices,  which  existed  in  every  laud, 
were  nature  seeking  after  the  grand  sacrifice — was 
humanity,  conscious  of  a  disruption,  seeking  resto- 
ration again — was  nature,  feeling  after  our  Father, 
if  peradventure  it  might  find  him. 

But  whilst  we  have  spoken  of  this  text  as  illus- 
trated in  the  first  advent  of  Christ — and  rightly  so 


214  SIGNS   OP  THE   TIMES. 

— it  is  impossible  to  conclude  that  the  prediction  is 
exhausted  by  the  Saviour's  advent  and  birth  m 
Bethlehem.  The  language  has  no  adequate  fulfil- 
ment in  the  past,  and  must  in  a  great  extent  await 
the  future.  For  instance,  "  I  will  shake  all  nations." 
^'  I  will  shake  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea, 
and  the  dry  land  ;  and  I  will  shake  all  nations,  and 
the  Desire  of  all  nations  shall  come."  Christ  so  far 
their  desire  I  have  shown  him  to  be ;  but  there  is 
a  desire  even  in  the  hearts  of  God's  people  that  is 
not  yet  met ;  when  Christ  comes  the  second  time 
without  sin  unto  salvation,  that  desire  will  be  met. 
The  language  employed  by  the  prophet  evidently 
indicates  the  close  of  this  dispensation ;  for  he  says, 
in  another  verse :  "  I  will  overthrow  the  throne  of 
kingdoms,  and  I  will  destroy  the  strength  of  king- 
doms of  the  heathen ;  and  I  will  overthrow  the 
chariots,  and  those  that  ride  in  them ;  and  the 
horses  and  their  riders  shall  come  down,  every  one 
by  the  sw^ord  of  his  brother."  Now,  it  cannot  be 
said  that  when  Christ  was  born  there  was  any 
shaking  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  The  Temple 
of  Janus  was  shut ;  universal  peace  predominated 
from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  dow^n  of 
the  same.  It  cannot  be  said  that  when  Christ  was 
born  the  kingdoms  of  the  heathen  w^ere  over- 
thrown ;  for  we  read  that  Judea  had  been  over- 
thrown, but  the  kingdoms  of  the  heathen  remained 
still.  It  was  the  Jews  that  suffered,  not  the 
heathen,  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem ;  and 
therefore  I  think  that  the  commentary  of  those 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.        215 

who  suppose  that  this  shaking  of  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  this  destruction  of  the  heathen,  was  all 
accomplished  hy  the  dissolution  of  the  Jewish 
polity  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  really 
does  not  explain  the  text :  it  seems  to  intimate  a 
futurity  in  which  all  these  things  will  come  to  pass. 
But  the  hest  proof  of  it  is  not  the  conjecture  of  a 
commentator,  but  the  opinion  of  an  inspired  writer. 
For  what  does  the  Apostle  say,  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  ?  He  tell  us  :  "  whose  voice" — speak- 
ing of  the  giving  of  the  Law — "  whose  voice  then 
shook  the  earth" — that  is,  at  the  giving  of  the  Law 
— "  but  now  he  hath  promised,  saying.  Yet  once 
more  I  shake  not  the  earth  only,  but  also  heaven. 
And  this  word.  Yet  once  more,  signifieth  the 
removing  of  those  things  that  are  shaken,  as  of 
things  that  are  made,  that  those  things  which  can- 
not be  shaken  may  remain."  The  Apostle  Paul, 
sixty  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ,  quotes  this 
very  text  as  not  then  fulfilled ;  and  shows  that  that 
shaking  or  convulsion  has  to  come  in  the  lapse  of 
the  years  that  were  before  him,  which  should  fulfil 
the  prophecy  of  Haggai:  "I  will  shake  not  the 
earth  only,  but  the  heavens,  and  the  sea,  and  the 
dry  land."  And  this  shaking  is  explained  by 
Peter,  when  he  says  that  all  these  things  shall  be 
dissolved — that  "the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as 
a  thief  in  the  night ;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall 
pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat;  the  earth  also,  and 
the  works  that  are  therein,  shall  be  burned  up. 


216  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

Seeing,  then,  that  all  these  things  shall  be  dis- 
solved, what  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in 
all  holy  conversation  and  godliness ;  looking  for 
and  hasting  unto  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God, 
wherein  the  heavens  being  on  fire  shall  be  dissolved, 
and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat? 
N^evertheless  we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness."  That  is  the  removal  of  the  old 
earth  and  the  old  heavens  as  of  the  things  that  are 
shaken,  in  order  that  the  new  earth  and  the  new 
heaven,  as  of  things  that  cannot  be  shaken,  may 
remain.  If,  then,  the  text  is  not  yet  fulfilled  —  if 
the  Desire  of  all  nations  came  to  bear  the  cross,  in 
order  that  the  earth  may  be  renovated  —  we  are 
warranted  from  this  and  other  texts  to  entertain 
the  opinion  that  the  Desire  still  of  all  the  people 
of  God  will  come,  not  to  bear  the  cross,  but  to 
wear  the  crown,  that  the  earth  may  at  length  be 
restored,  and  all  things  be  made  new.  That 
Christ's  second  advent  is  still  the  desire  of  the 
Christian,  is  obvious  from  this — that  no  sooner  had 
ne  left  the  world  than  his  people  began  to  pray, 
what  has  been  continued  as  their  prayer  still, 
"  Come,  Lord  Jesus;"  and  the  promise  was  given 
to  that  people,  "Unto  3'ou  that  look  for  him,  he 
will  come  as  ye  have  prayed,  the  second  time,  with- 
out sin,  unto  salvation.  ^N'ow,  the  reason  why  we 
should  wish  for  Christ's  second  advent  as  the  real 
fulfilment  of  all  is,  that  when  he  comes  there  will 
be  times  of  refreshing,  as  says  the  Apostle,  from 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.        217 

the  presence  of  the  Lord.  K  we  desire  this  refresh- 
ment to  the  weary,  this  rest  for  the  exile,  we  should 
long  and  pray  for  that  advent  of  Him  who  is  the 
desire  of  both  and  the  satisfaction  of  all.  We 
read,  also,  that  when  Christ  comes  there  will  be 
the  times  of  the  restitution  of  all  things.  Every- 
thing that  sin  has  stained  will  be  put  right ;  every 
tie  that  death  has  snapped  will  be  restored;  the 
grave  shall  yield  up  its  deposit.  Death  shall  let  go 
his  prisoners  ;  all  that  we  lost  in  Paradise  shall  be 
regained  when  Christ  comes;  there  shall  be  no 
more  tears,  nor  crying,  nor  sin,  nor  grief,  nor 
sorrow;  but  all  former  things  will  have  passed 
away,  all  things  will  have  become  new.  Therefore, 
to  every  believer,  Christ's  second  advent  is  the 
deepest  desire  and  the  yearning  of  his  heart. 

He  comes  the  second  time  without  sin  unto  sal- 
vation, our  desire — our  deepening  desire.  We  pray 
for  his  coming  because  all  that  now  shades  his 
glory,  grieves  his  people,  or  oppresses  mankind, 
will  then  utterly  pass  away.  The  Crescent  in  the 
East  will  have  waned  and  disappeared  with  the 
things  that  have  been  shaken ;  the  tiara,  that 
inflicts  its  tyranny  in  the  West,  will  be  utterly 
broken  and  put  away,  and  mingled  with  the  things 
that  have  been,  no  more  to  be  restored  again. 
Humanity,  oppressed  by  the  tyranny  of  the  one, 
slain  and  depressed  by  the  superstition  of  the  other, 
will  be  emancipated ;  and  there  will  be  no  more 
error  to  mislead,  no  more  oppression  to  grind 
down;  but  a  free,  a  holy,  and  a  happy  people, 
19 


218  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

rejoicing  under  the  sovereignty  and  sway  of  a 
loving  and  affectionate  God. 

When  Christ  conies,  the  Sabhath  of  the  earth 
will  then  come.  "There  remaineth,"  says  the 
Apostle,  "a  Sabbath-keeping"  —  or,  as  we  very 
properly  translate  it,  "a  rest  for  the  people  of 
God."  Earth  will  rest  from  its  groans,  humanity 
will  rest  from  its  toils ;  all  things  will  bask  in  the 
glory  and  sunshine  of  an  everlasting  Sabbath ;  and 
all  that  has  been  injured  in  the  weary  work-day  of 
the  world's  history,  will  be  refreshed,  restored,  and 
made  glorious,  in  its  last  and  its  everlasting  Sab- 
bath. All  disputes  among  us  will  be  put  an  end 
to  ;  every  denomination  of  true  Christians  w^ill 
then  discover  that  each  was  but  a  side  chapel  in 
the  same  grand  cathedral,  worshipping  under  the 
same  roof,  resting  on  the  same  floor,  chanting  the 
same  divine  hymn,  only  in  different  dialects  of  the 
same  mother  tongue ;  and  that,  instead  of  quarrel- 
ling as  they  now  do,  they  ought  to  have  forgiven 
the  smaller  points  in  which  they  differed,  for  the 
sake  of  the  magnificent  and  glorious  one  on  which 
they  were  at  one. 

If  all  this  is  to  take  place  —  if  all  earth  is  to  be 
restored,  if  humanity  is  to  be  reconstituted,  recon- 
secrated, and  made  happy  —  if  there  is  to  be  an 
everlasting  Sabbath — peace,  joy,  and  righteousness 
overspreading  the  whole  earth  —  then,  surely,  that 
day  should  be  our  earnest  and  prayerful  desire ;  its 
advent  should  be  our  joyous  hope.  His  promise 
remains  waiting  for  the  hour  when  prophecy  shall 


THE  DESIRE  OF  ALL  NATIONS.       219 

be  history,  and  prediction  shall  be  fact.  "  I  will 
shake  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  sea  and  the 
dry  land :"  and  as  sure  as  you  expect  him,  so  sure 
the  Desire  of  all  nations  will  come,  and  the  uni- 
verse shall  be  filled  with  his  glory ;  and  there  is  no 
temple  therein,  but  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and 
the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it. 

The  nearer  the  day  of  his  advent  comes,  the 
deeper  the  desire  of  nations  for  it  will  grow. 
Christians  will  pray  more  earnestly  for  his  coming. 
Weary  humanity  will  thirst  more  intensely  for  a 
cessation  of  its  griefs,  its  cares,  its  fears,  its  woes 
and  travail.  And  when  longer  delay  would  issue 
in  despair,  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  coming  in 
the  clouds  of  heaven  will  end  all  signs  and  sacra- 
ments, and  introduce  the  glory  that  endures  for 
ever. 


220  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 


vin. 

THE  PINAL   DESTINY. 

The  people,  the  creation,  the  Church  of  Christ, 
has  a  noble  destiny.  It  is  expressed  in  these  words : 
"  In  that  day  shall  there  be  upon  the  bells  of  the 
horses,  Holiness  unto  the  Lord ;  and  the  pots  in  the 
Lord's  house  shall  be  like  the  bowls  before  the 
altar.  Yea,  every  pot  in  Jerusalem  and  in  Judah 
shall  be  holiness  unto  the  Lord  of  hosts ;  and  all 
they  that  sacrifice  shall  come  and  take  of  them, 
and  seethe  therein  :  and  in  that  day  there  shall  be 
no  more  the  Canaanite  in  the  house  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts."     Zech.  xivf20,  21. 

In  the  30th  verse  of  the  39th  chapter  of  Exodus 
it  is  stated,  that  on  the  plate  of  the  holy  crown  of 
pure  gold,  which  was  to  be  worn  around  the  brow 
of  the  high  priest  of  Israel,  there  should  be  the 
engraving  as  of  a  signet — "Holiness  to  the  Lord." 

Now,  says  the  prophet  Zechariah,  an  age  comes 
when  every  one  shall  be  as  holy  as  the  high  priest 
was ;  and  everything  shall  be  as  holy  as  that  mitre 
was ;  and  over  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  God's 
created  universe,  like  a  beautiful  illuminated  scroll, 
shall  be  written  and  seen,  as  well  as  actually  em- 
bodied, "Holiness  to  the  Lord."  That  this  is  not 
a  present,  but  a  future  scene,  is  obvious  from  the 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  221 

words  of  the  prophet.  He  does  not  say  it  has  been 
in  the  past;  but,  "In  that  day"  —  that  is,  some 
future  day  —  "  there  shall  be  upon  the  bells  of  the 
horses" — that  is,  the  very  humblest  and  lowest 
parts  of  his  covering  and  furniture  —  and  upon  all 
the  pots  and  vessels  in  every  house  and  sanctuary 
this  sublime  designation,  "Holiness  to  the  Lord." 

When  is  this  to  be  ?  The  prophet  says  it  shall 
be  "in  that  day."  Let  us  try  to  find  out  when  and 
what  that  day  shall  be,  by  noticing  the  continuity 
of  this  prophecy  with  what  is  said  in  a  previous 
chapter.  In  the  9th  chapter  of  Zechariah,  at  the 
9th  verse,  we  read  the  prophecy  of  the  coming  of 
Christ,  his  humiliation,  suffering,  and  sorrow. 
"Rejoice  greatl}-,  O  daughter  of  Zion  :  behold,  thy 
King  Cometh  unto  thee:  he  is  just,  and  having  sal- 
vation ;  lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass,  and  upon  a 
colt  the  foal  of  an  ass."  This  was  literally  fulfilled 
when  he  came  to  sufler.  The  next  is,  "  And  I  will 
cut  off  the  chariot  from  Ephraim,  and  the  horse 
from  Jeinisalem,  and  the  battle-bow  shall  be  cut 
off:  and  he  shall  speak  peace  unto  the  heathen; 
and  his  dominion  shall  be  from  sea  even  to  sea, 
and  from  the  river  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
As  for  thee  also,  by  the  blood  of  thy  covenant  I 
have  sent  forth  thy  prisoners  out  of  the  pit  wherein 
is  no  water."  So  in  the  11th  chapter,  at  the  12th 
verse :  "  And  I  said  unto  them.  If  ye  think  good, 
give  me  my  price :  and  if  not,  forbear.  So  they 
weighed  for  my  price  thirty  pieces  of  silver."  The 
reference  is  obvious.     So  in  the  13th  chapter,  at 


222  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  6tli  verse :  "  And  one  shall  say  unto  him,  "What 
are  these  wounds  in  thine  hands  ?  Then  he  shall 
answer,  Those  with  which  I  was  wounded  in  the 
house  of  my  friends.  Awake,  O  sword,  against 
my  shepherd,  and  against  the  man  that  is  my 
fellow,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts:  smite  the  shep- 
herd, and  the  sheep  shall  be  scattered."  These  are 
descriptions  of  the  first  event.  The  second  event 
that  follows  is  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  recorded 
at  great  length  in  the  11th  chapter  of  this  prophecy, 
at  the  6th  verse :  "I  will  no  more  pity  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  land" — that  is,  Palestine — "saith. the 
Lord :  but,  lo,  I  will  deliver  the  men  every  one  into 
his  neighbour's  hand,  and  into  the  hand  of  his 
king :  and  they  shall  smite  the  land,  and  out  of 
their  hand  I  will  not  deliver  them.  And  I  will 
feed  the  fiock  of  slaughter,  even  you,  0  poor  of 
the  flock.  And  I  took  unto  me  two  staves ;  the 
one  I  called  Beauty,  and  the  other  I  called  Bands  : 
and  I  fed  the  flock"  —  a  symbolical  allusion.  In 
the  16th  verse,  there  is  the  prophecy  of  the  raising 
up  of  a  shepherd,  of  a  leader.  The  whole  of  the 
llth  chapter  evidently  predicts  the  dispersion  of 
the  Jews.  The  12th  chapter  describes  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Jews,  which  is  given  at  very  great 
length  and  with  very  great  fdness  and  beauty. 
"I  will  make  Jerusalem  a  cup  of  trembling."  "In 
that  day  shall  the  Lord  defend  the  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem ;  and  he  that  is  feeble  among  them  at 
that  day  shall  be  as  David,  and  the  house  of  David 
shall  be  as  God,  as  the  angel  of  the  Lord  before 

.4\ 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  223 

them.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  daj',  that 
I  will  seek  to  destroy  all  the  nations  that  come 
against  Jerusalem.  And  I  will  pour  upon  the 
house  of  David,  and  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jeru- 
salem, the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplications ;  and 
they  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have  pierced, 
and  they  shall  mourn  for  him,  and  shall  be  in  bitter- 
ness for  him,  as  one  that  is  in  bitterness  for  his  first- 
born. In  that  day  there  shall  be  a  great  mourning 
in  Jerusalem,  as  the  mourning  of  Hadadrimmon 
in  the  valley  of  Megiddon.  And  the  land  shall 
mourn,  every  family  apart ;  the  family  of  the  house 
of  David  apart,  and  their  wives  apart ;  the  family 
of  the  house  of  E'athan  apart,  and  their  wives 
apart." 

These  expressions,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
denote  that  they  are  to  be  settled  in  their  own 
land,  when  they  shall  look  upon  him  whom  they 
have  pierced,  and  mourn  —  restored  in  an  uncon- 
verted state  —  that  they  will  attempt  to  build  a 
temple  for  their  worship.  I  have  seen  a  prospectus, 
as  mentioned  before,  of  a  Jewish  society,  for  build- 
ing that  very  temple.  They  are  to  be  restored  to 
their  own  land  —  the  approaching  downfall  of 
Turkey  preparing  the  way  for  them ;  each  tribe  is 
to  mourn  apart,  showing  that  each  is  to  be  located 
in  its  own  district.  In  the  14th  chapter  we  learn 
that  the  last  great  conflict  is  to  be  fought  in  Pales- 
tine itself.  These  words,  no  doubt,  will  be  literally 
fulfilled :  "  Behold,  the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh, 
and  thy  spoil  shall  be  divided  in  the  midst  of  thee. 


224  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

For  I  will  gather  all  nations  against  Jerusalem  to 
battle ;  and  the  city  shall  be  taken,  and  the  houses 
rifled ;  and  half  of  the  city  shall  go  forth  into  cap- 
tivity,  and  the  residue  of  the  people  shall  not  be 
cut  off  from  the  city.  Then  shall  the  Lord  go 
forth" — that  is,  the  Lord  Jesus — "  and  fight  against 
those  nations,  as  when  he  fought  in  the  day  of 
battle.  And  his  feet  shall  stand  in  that  day  upon 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  which  is  before  Jerusalem  on 
the  east,  and  the  Mount  of  Olives  shall  cleave  in 
the  midst  thereof  toward  the  east  and  toward  the 
west,  and  there  shall  be  a  very  great  valley ;  and 
half  of  the  mountain  shall  remove  toward  the 
north,  and  half  of  it  toward  the  south.  And  ye 
shall  flee  to  the  valley  of  the  mountains ;  for  the 
valley  of  the  mountains  shall  reach  unto  Azal :  yea, 
ye  shall  flee,  like  as  ye  fled  from  before  the  earth- 
quake in  the  days  of  Uzziah  king  of  Judah :  and 
the  Lord  my  God  shall  come,  and  all  the  saints 
with  thee.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 
that  the  light  shall  not  be  clear,  nor  dark :  but  it 
shall  be  one  day  which  shall  be  known  to  the  Lord, 
not  day,  nor  night :  but  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 
at  evening  time  it  shall  be  light."  Here  we  have 
the  description  of  the  last  great  battle,  which  is 
called  in  the  Apocalypse  the  great  conflict  of  Ar- 
mageddon ;  in  which,  (according  to  Ezekiel,)  Gog, 
and  Magog,  and  Meshech,  and  Tubal  —  language 
singularly  apposite  to  Eussia- — shall  come  up 
against  God's  people,  and  seek  to  destroy  Jerusa- 
lem, and  to  put  an  end  to  the  fulfilment  of  a  thou 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  225 

sand  brilliant  promises  scattered  throughout  the 
pages  of  inspiration.  It  may  be  said,  "  You  can- 
not take  these  passages  literally."  The  most  minute 
predictions,  however,  relating  to  Christ's  first  ad- 
vent were  most  literally  fulfilled.  We  read,  in  the 
22d  Psalm,  that  "  they  parted  my  raiment,  and  for 
my  vesture  they  cast  lots."  A  mere  philosopher 
reading  that  would  say,  "  We  cannot  suppose  that 
such  a  trifling  thing  will  be  literally  fulfilled  ;"  and 
yet  we  know  that  it  was  fulfilled  to  the  very  letter. 
So  again,  "Thy  king  cometh  riding  upon  an  ass." 
You  would  say,  "  That  no  doubt  means  that  he  will 
come  in  very  great  humility ;"  but  it  was  literally 
fulfilled.  And  if  these  minute  predictions  respect- 
ing the  minutest  details  of  Christ's  first  advent  were 
literally  fulfilled,  why  should  w^e  suppose  that  the 
minute  predictions  respecting  his  second  advent 
will  not  be  as  minutely  fulfilled  also  ?  As  I  under- 
stand strictly  and  literally  the  predictions  that  have 
been  strictly  and  literally  fulfilled  in  the  past,  so  I 
understand  that  God  will  literally  gather  all  nations 
to  Palestine.  Everything  is  turning  that  way. 
What  is  the  cause  of  the  storm  that  has  burst  on 
the  East,  which  statesmen  have  been  mustering  all 
their  skill  and  ingenuity  to  conduct  away?  A 
quarrel  about  Palestine — about  shrines  and  sacred 
places.  At  this  moment  that  land  is  becoming  the 
source  of  disquiet  and  conflict  in  the  most  powerful 
cabinets  of  the  east  and  west  of  Europe.  More 
recently  the  sufierings  of  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem 
are  exciting  the  sympathies  of  Christendom.    May 


226  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

not  these  events  be  the  budding  of  the  branch? 
''I  will  gather  all  nations  against  Jerusalem  to 
battle ;"  but  whether  before  or  after  the  Jews  are 
restored,  I  feel  it  difficult  to  decide.  And  the  Lord 
shall  be  against  these  nations,  by  those  that  he 
.brings  forward ;  or  it  may  be,  by  hail,  by  plague, 
^by  storm,  by  earthquake.  "And  his  foot  shall 
stand  in  that  day  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives."  Is 
it  unreasonable  to  conclude  that  he  will  as  literally 
stand  upon  that  mount  as  he  stood  upon  Mount 
Calvary  ?  If  there  be  a  better  explanation,  let  us 
accept  it.  It  does  seem  contradictory  that  we 
should  take  those  prophecies  literally  that  he  has 
literally  fulfilled,  but  the  remaining  prophecies  not 
yet  fulfilled  figuratively  and  symbolically ;  at  least, 
it  does  not  seem  consistent. 

We  have,  therefore,  in  this  14th  chapter,  the 
gathering  of  all  nations  against  Jerusalem;  and 
we  read,  at  the  close  of  the  chapter,  of  their  utter 
destruction.  In  the  3d  verse  it  is  said,  "  The  Lord 
shall  go  forth  and  fight  against  those  nations." 
The  12th  verse  describes  what  shall  befall  them : 
/'And  this  shall  be  the  plague  wherewith  the  Lord 
will  smite  all  the  people  that  have  fought  against 
Jerusalem;  their  flesh  shall  consume  away  while 
they  stand  upon  their  feet,  and  their  eyes  shall 
consume  away  in  their  holes,  and  their  tongue 
shall  consume  aw^ay  in  their  mouth.  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  a  great  tumult  from 
the  Lord  shall  be  among  them ;  and  they  shall  lay 
hold  every  one  on  the  hand  of  his  neighbour,  and 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  227 

his  hand  shall  rise  up  against  the  hand  of  his 
neighbour.  And  Judah  also  shall  fight  at  Jeru- 
salem ;  and  the  wealth  of  all  the  heathen  around 
about  shall  be  gathered  together,  gold,  and  silver, 
and  apparel,  in  great  abundance.  And  so  shall  be 
the  plague  of  the  horse,  of  the  mule,  of  the  camel, 
and  of  the  ass,  and  of  all  the  beasts  that  shall  be 
in  these  tents,  as  this  plague.  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  that  every  one  that  is  left  of  all  the  nations 
which  came  against  Jerusalem  shall  even  go  up 
from  year  to  year  to  worship  the  King,  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  and  to  keep  the  feast  of  tabernacles." 
Then  we  read,  in  the  9th  verse :  "  And  the  Lord 
shall  be  king  over  all  the  earth :  in  that  day  there 
shall  be  one  Lord,  and  his  name  one.  All  the  land 
shall  be  turned  as  a  plain  from  Geba  to  llimmon 
south  of  Jerusalem :  and  it  shall  be  lifted  up,  and 
inhabited  in  her  place,  from  Benjamin's  gate  unto 
the  place  of  the  first  gate,  unto  the  corner-gate, 
and  from  the  tower  of  Hananeel  unto  the  king's 
wine-presses.  And  men  shall  dwell  in  it,  and  there 
shall  be  no  more  utter  destruction ;  but  Jerusalem 
shall  be  safely  inhabited." 

Now  then,  says  the  prophet,  "In  that  day" — 
when  all  this  shall  be  accomplished,  Jerusalem  re- 
built, Palestine  restored,  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
like  ,the  shechinah  of  old,  taking  up  its  abode  ^  in 
the  midst  of  it, — "  In  that  day  shall  there  be  upon 
the  bells  of  the  horses.  Holiness  unto  the  Lord ; 
and  the  pots  in  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  like  the 
bowls  before  the  altar.     Yea,  every  pot  in  Jerusa- 


228  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

lem  and  in  Judah  shall  be  holiness  unto  the  Lord 
of  hosts."  At  that  day  which  closes  all  the  afflic- 
tions of  time,  and  begins  the  dawn  and  morning 
of  everlasting  noon  ;  when  Christ  shall  come  again, 
and  shine  before  his  ancients  gloriously,  and  reign 
a  Prince  and  a  King  in  the  midst  of  his  people  for 
ever  and  for  ever — the  commencement  of  the  thou- 
sand years  described  in  the  Apocalypse  —  holiness 
to  the  Lord  shall  be  upon  everything  in  the  height, 
everything  in  the  depth,  upon  every  heart,  and 
hand,  and  forehead :  and  the  whole  earth  shall  be 
a  holy  and  a  beautiful  offering  to  the  Lord  that 
made  and  redeemed  it.  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord," 
means  properly  and  strictl}^,  "  sequestration," 
"separation,"  "division."  It  was  stated  before 
that  the  Hebrew  word  Kadosh  means  not  only 
"holy,"  but  also  the  very  reverse,  or  "unholy." 
Its  literal  meaning  is  a  thing  devoted :  if  devoted 
to  wickedness,  it  is  still  Kadosh;  if  devoted  to 
goodness,  it  is  still  Kadosh.  It  is  used  like  the 
Latin  word  saeer,  which  means  sacred,  and  also 
wicked.  The  auri  sacra  fames  does  not  mean  "the 
holy  thirst  of  gold,"  but  "the  accursed  thirst  of 
gold."  The  word  in  its  original  means  simply 
dedication,  division,  separation,  sequestration. 
Everything  in  that  day — from  the  meanest  article 
of  furniture  up  to  the  cherubim  that  are  beside  the 
throne — shall  be  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord ;"  it  means, 
that  whatever  be  the  excellence,  the  beauty,  or  the 
gifts  of  any  creature,  these  shall  no  longer  be 
squandered  in  the  gratification  of  evil  desires ;  but 


THE  FINAL   DESTINY.  229 

shall  all  be  consecrated,  dedicated,  and  devoted,  to 
the  service  of  the  Lord  God  of  hosts.  These  words 
will  then  be  no  longer  a  duty  to  be  done,  but  a  fact 
actually  accomplished :  "Whatever  you  do,  whether 
you  even  eat  or  drink,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 
Every  person  in  that  day  —  the  day  that  I  have 
endeavoured  to  ^x  and  to  determine — shall  feel  all 
the  sacredness  of  a  priest,  all  the  responsibility  of  a 
scrv^ant,  all  the  dignity  of  a  king  unto  our  God 
and  his  Christ.  The  lowliest  things  shall  set  forth 
his  praise ;  the  loftiest  things  shall  reflect  his  glory ; 
all  that  is  little  and  all  that  is  great  shall  be  equally 
devoted,  dedicated  and  separated,  or  be  holiness  to 
the  Lord. 

In  order  to  illustrate  this  thought,  we  have  only 
to  look  at  what  is  the  distinctive  excellency  of  a 
thing,  to  see  and  anticipate  the  excellency  that  will 
be  devoted  and  consecrated  to  God. 

The  whole  Church  of  Christ  shall  then  be  "  Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord."  At  present  the  visible  Church 
is  made  up  of  tares  and  wheat ;  and  every  attempt 
that  man  has  made  to  separate  them  has  ended 
rather  in  multiplying  than  diminishing  the  tares 
and  injuring  the  w^heat.  We  are  not  to  expect  till 
"that  day"  a  pure,  and  perfect,  and  spotless 
Church.  But  we  are  told  that  the  Redeemer  will 
present  the  Church  to  himself  a  holy  Church — 
without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  blemish,  or  any  such 
thing.  That  is,  the  Church  —  now  stained  with  a 
thousand  sins,  pervaded  by  imperfections  of  every 
sort  —  shall  then  be  disinfected  of  all  its  evil,  puri^ 
20  / 


.   230  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES 

fied  of  all  its  dross,  and  presented  to  the  Lord  a 
holy  Church — without  spot,  or  blemish,  or  wrinkle, 
or  any  such  thing — "  H(jliness  to  the  Lord."  Then 
the  bride  shall  be  clothed  in  her  coronation  robes, 
having  made  herself  ready ;  then  the  new  Jerusa- 
lem —  no  longer  hidden  in  the  distant  skies,  but 
revealed  as  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God — 
shall  come  down  from  heaven  bright  like  the  sun, 
fair  like  the  moon,  tprrible  as  an  army  with 
banners.  Then  the  mystical  hundred  and  forty- 
four  thousand  described  in  the  Apocalypse  shall  be 
complete;  all  God's  sons  reclaimed,  all  God's 
people  gathered  home ;  and  there  shall  be  no 
more  signs,  because  there  is  the  substance;  no 
more  sacraments,  because  what  is  signified  is 
revealed ;  no  more  prayer,  for  all  shall  be  praise. 
And  when  angels  witness  the  august  offering,  the 
holy  spectacle,  the  redeemed  Church,  with  the  in- 
scription on  every  brow,  and  the  feeling  in  every 
heart,  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord,"  they  will  ask,  "Who 
are  these,  and  whence  came  they  ?  They  are  not 
natives ;  they  are  immigrants,  they  are  colonists ; 
they  come  from  another  country;  they  were  not 
born  here."  "Lo,  these  are  they  that  have  washed 
their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb :  therefore  are  they  here  present,  there- 
fore are  they  introduced  here,  and  they  serve  him 
now  day  and  night,  without  ceasing."  The  whole 
Church  shall  be  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord." 

When  that  day  arrives,  every  place  and  portion 
of  the  earth  shall  be  "Holiness  to  the  Lord."     It 

is 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  231 

has  now  its  profane  places,  its  bleak  places,  its 
desert  places ;  but  in  that  day,  according  to  pro- 
phecy, its  very  deserts  shall  rejoice,  its  wilderness 
shall  blossom  even  as  the  rose.  There  shall  be  no 
profane  spot,  no  distinction  between  what  is  sacred 
and  what  is  secular ;  the  last  fire  shall  have  purified 
by  its  baptism  the  earth  in  which  we  live,  its  every 
mountain  shall  be  holy  as  Mount  Sion,  blessed  as 
Mount  Gerizim,  beautiful  and  radiant  with  light  as 
Mount  Tabor ;  all  nature  shall  be  the  temple  and 
the  cathedral  of  God ;  every  place  shall  be  a  sanc- 
tuary ;  every  sound  shall  be  a  choral  psalm ;  every 
audience  a  congregation ;  every  crowd  a  Church ; 
and  thus  the  whole  of  space  shall  be  inlaid  with 
God,  and  all  IS'ature,  retuned,  restored,  regene- 
rated, shall  have  inscribed  upon  her  brow  what 
the  high  priest  had  upon  his  mitre — "  Holiness  to 
the  Lord." 

When  that  day  comes,  every  service  shall  also  be 
"Holiness  to  the  Lord."  Man's  labour  shall  be 
like  Adam's  in  Paradise,  refreshment  and  joy :  our 
life  shall  be  a  ceaseless  liturgy ;  our  labour  shall 
be  a  holy  offering ;  our  conversation  instinct  with 
the  purest  and  the  noblest  thoughts ;  the  present 
shall  be  all  peace,  the  future  shall  bo  bright  as 
hope,  the  review  of  the  past  shall  only  give  us 
thankfulness,  and  the  anticipation  of  the  future 
shall  only  give  us  joy.  In  that  day,  when  all 
things  are  reinstated  and  restored  —  in  the  millen- 
nial era  —  there  may  be  all  that  we  have  now,  but 
disinfected,  purified,   ennobled,   invested   with  a 


232  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

grandeur  and  a  magnificence  of  which  we  have  no 
conception  now.  The  sower  may  still  sow,  but  in 
sure  hope ;  the  reaper  may  still  reap,  but  in  ecstacy 
and  in  joy.  We  must  not  etherealize  the  future ; 
we  are  to  have  bodies,  though  resurrection  bodies ; 
we  are  to  live  upon  this  orb,  though  a  re-baptized 
and  regenerated  orb ;  we  shall  be  men  as  we  are 
now;  and  much,  perhaps,  that  science  discloses, 
that  genius  strikes  out,  that  we  regard  as  our  privi- 
leges, our  blessings,  the  elements  of  our  greatness, 
may,  being  purified  and  consecrated,  and  having 
stamped  upon  them,  "Holiness  to  the  Lord,"  con- 
tinue in  the  beautiful  age  that  is  to  come ;  that 
day  when  the  Lord  shall  reign  on  Mount  Zion,  and 
shine  before  his  ancients  gloriously. 

In  that  day,  every  house  and  dwelling  shall  no 
more  be  common  and  profane,  but  "  Holiness  to 
the  Lord."  The  head  of  the  house  shall  be  the 
high  priest  to  offer  up  the  prayers  and  the  praises 
of  the  group  that  is  around  him.  Wherever  smoke 
ascends,  or  a  heart  beats,  or  a  family  congregates, 
shall  be  "Holiness  to  the  Lord."  Daily  bread 
shall  be  eaten  like  sacramental  bread;  the  table 
of  God's  providence  shall  be  holy  as  the  table  of 
the  Lord :  the  Church  shall  be  in  the  house,  and 
the  house  shall  be  in  the  Church ;  and  the  humblest 
furniture  within  shall  be  holy  as  the  ark,  beautiful 
as  the  cherubim  and  the  glory  that  was  between ; 
for  on  the  very  "  bells  of  the  horses,"  and  humblest 
furniture  of  the  humblest  household,  shall  be  in- 


THE   FINAL   DESTINY.  233 

scribed,  what  shall  be  struck  into  its  very  nature— 
"Holiness  to  the  Lord.'* 

In  that  day,  every  day  shall  be  a  Sabbath.  At 
present  we  have  week-days  and  Sabbath-days ;  but 
then  devotion  shall  be  a  ceaseless  feeling,  praise 
shall  be  a  daily  song ;  there  will  be  no  local  temple, 
there  will  be  no  statedly  recurring  Sabbaths.  The 
Sabbath  is  not  abolished  in  the  age  to  come  any 
more  than  it  was  when  the  Jewish  passed  into  the 
Christian  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  is  expanded,  made 
more  beautiful,  and,  if  possible,  more  holy;  for 
there  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God  what  we 
have  translated  "a  rest,"  but  what  Paul  calls  a 
(fa^^aTKfiLos,  that  is,  a  "Sabbath-keeping  for  the 
people  of  God."  The  whole  age  to  come  is  Sab- 
bath; the  whole  Millennium  is  a  thousand  years 
of  Sabbath.  The  Jewish  Sabbath  passed  into  the 
Christian,  purified  and  enlarged ;  and  the  Christian 
Sabbath  shall  pass  into  the  Millennium,  and  be  the 
ceaseless  'Sabbath,  or  rest  that  remains  for  the 
people  of  God. 

In  that  day,  every  one  of  the  brute  creation  then 
living  shall  be  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord."  They  were 
so  originally ;  God  made  every  creature,  from  the 
emmet  to  the  eagle  —  from  the  insect  in  the  sun- 
beam to  the  elephant  and  the  leviathan  —  and 
having  made  them,  he  pronounced  them  "very 
good."  It  is  true,  disorder,  discord,  and  evil  have 
been  introduced;  but  these  were  not  originally. 
Man,  creation's  lord,  fell,  and  all  nature  felt  the 
shock;  man  —  the  representative  of  all  —  sinned, 
20*  y 


2M  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

and  all  he  represented  and  headed  fell  with  him, 
and  felt  the  consequences.  But  in  that  day,  when 
all  things  shall  be  restored,  the  fierce  passions  of 
the  beasts  of  the  forest  shall  be  quenched :  "  the 
lion,"  in  the  language  of  prophecy,  *' shall  eat 
straw  like  the  ox,  and  a  little  child" — as  if  to  show 
the  gentleness  of  the  lion's  nature  —  "  shall  lead 
them."  All  this  is  not  figurative,  but  literal.  "Why 
should  we  conclude  it  is  not  literal  when  prophe- 
cies more  minute  have  been  literally  fulfilled  ?  We 
cannot  conceive  that  in  Paradise  the  lion  preyed 
upon  the  lamb,  or  that  the  wild  beast  tore  in  pieces 
the  creatures  that  came  within  his  reach.  I  know 
how  difiicult  it  is  to  meet  the  objection  that  the 
sceptic  adduces,  that  the  lion  is  made  clearly  by  his 
physical  organization  carnivorous,  just  as  the  ox  is 
by  his  physical  organization  clearly  graminivorous ; 
but  no  doubt  the  proper  way  to  look  at  it  is,  that 
God  created  them  prospectively.  How  long  Adam 
stood  —  whether  six  days,  or  six  months,  or  six 
years — ^we  do  not  know ;  but  this  we  may  conclude, 
that  God  made  things  prospectively.  God  knew 
Adam  was  not  to  stand,  and  Adam's  fall  was  but 
a  step  in  a  grand  stage  —  while  Adam  had  all  the 
guilt,  and  God  none  of  the  responsibility.  That 
was  the  cause  of  that  grand  fact  that  Christ  should 
sufier,  and  enter  into  glory.  Contemplating  this — 
the  great  and  momentous  event  —  God  made  the 
creatures  (and  we  can  only  suppose  this,  for  we 
have  no  evidence  to  educe)  prospectively,  with 
reference  to  how  they  should  live,  and  where  they 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  235 

should  live,  when  thej  should  fall  with  Adam,  and 
come  under  the  evil  and  accursed  influence  of  sin 
and  death,  and  all  their  woe.  But  surely  no  man 
in  his  senses  can  suppose  that  God  made  one  beast 
to  devour  another,  and  that  it  was  part  and  parcel 
of  the  original  economy.  Nobody  will  surely  con- 
clude that  a  God  of  infinite  beneficence,  who  could 
have  arranged  otherwise,  has  made  one  creature 
stronger  to  prey  upon  the  flesh  of  the  other.  There 
are  traits  in  the  New  Testament  that  point  out  a 
contrary  conclusion ;  and  reason — not  reason  out- 
side of  Scripture,  but  supported  and  sustained  by 
Scripture  —  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that  all 
was  made  in  harmony,  in  peace,  in  concord,  with 
man  and  with  each  other ;  and  only  when  sin,  the 
rending  element,  was  introduced,  did  creation  fly 
into  pieces,  and  every  creature  feel  its  heart  instinct 
with  evil  passions,  appetites,  and  desires. 

But,  above  all,  do  we  believe  that  in  that  day 
shall  man  be  restored  again  to  his  original  supre- 
macy? In  that  day  man  shall  be  like  the  high 
priest  —  "Holiness  to  the  Lord;"  and  surely  the 
restoration  of  Adam  involves  the  restoration  of  all 
his  dependencies.  Creation  fell  with  him ;  creation 
shall  be  restored  with  him.  Nature  suflfered  the 
shock  of  his  sin  ;  why  should  not  nature  participate 
in  the  glories  of  his  restoration  ?  If  the  head  is 
lifted  into  the  sunshine,  why  should  not  all  around 
and  within  its  reach  participate  of  the  same  bless- 
ing also  ?  I  regard  man  as  the  master  of  the  rest 
of  creation ;   and  that  he  will  be  reinstated  in  a 


236  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

richer  Paradise  tliau  that  from  which  he  was 
expelled,  and  shall  be  surrounded  with  a  happier 
and  a  more  beautiful  family  of  animated  beings 
than  that  which  went  to  war  with  him  when  he 
broke  out  in  war  with  and  rebellion  against  God ; 
and  that  he  shall  once  more  be  the  priest  of  nature, 
to  lift  up  her  ceaseless  praises ;  the  King  of  nature, 
to  govern  all ;  his  intellect  no  more  liable  to  error, 
his  heart  no  more  the  seat  of  passions ;  no  tears  to 
channel  his  cheeks,  no  pains  to  oppress  his  heart, 
no  signs  or  symptoms  of  decay,  or  anything  to  in- 
dicate that  he  is  not  restored  to  that  perfect  conse- 
cration which  he  possessed  in  Paradise — "  Holiness 
to  the  Lord." 

And  this  earth  itself  shall  be  completely  restored. 
At  the  Fall  this  earth  was  like  an  island  struck  off 
by  a  sudden  blow ;  or  rather  like  a  gigantic  land- 
slip from  the  continent  of  heaven ;  it  set  out  under 
another  attraction,  and  if  God  did  not  restrain  it, 
it  would  plunge  into  everlasting  darkness,  and 
misery,  and  woe.  But  in  that  day  this  prodigal 
orb  of  ours  shall  return  once  more  to  her  Father's 
house,  and  shall  again  appear  in  the  beautiful  sis- 
terhood of  stars,  and  orbs,  and  systems  that  never 
fell ;  and  reflect  in  richer  lustre,  and  celebrate  in 
grander  songs,  the  praises  of  him  that  made  it,  and 
the  mercies  of  him  that  redeemed  it  by  his  blood, 
and  has  engraved  upon  it,  as  the  brightest  jewel  in 
his  diadem,  "Holiness  to  the  Lord."  Satan  shall 
be  cast  out  of  it ;  he  has  a  footing  on  it,  and  his 
footing  on  it  is  the  secret  of  much  of  its  uneasiness 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  237 

and  its  disquiet.  Satan  is  the  prince  of  the  power 
of  the  air ;  a  usurper  that  is  permitted  to  be  here, 
but  who  has  no  right  nor  proper  jurisdiction  here ; 
the  great  disturber  of  the  world,  the  great  democrat 
and  anarchist  of  mankind,  the  spirit  that  worketh 
in  the  children  of  disobedience,  but  doomed  to  be 
cast  out. 

And  sin  shall  also  be  cast  out  of  this  world.  Sin 
explains  all  its  uneasiness :  it  is  in  nature  precisely 
what  fever  is  in  the  Ijuman  body.  All  our  trials — 
all  our  griefs,  our  sorrows,  our  discords  —  are  the 
progeny  and  oflfepring  of  sin.  Its  trail,  like  the 
foul  trail  of  the  old  serpent,  may  be  traced  upon 
the  fairest  flowers  and  loveliest  landscapes — corro- 
ding, vexing,  irritating,  disturbing.  Plague,  pesti- 
lence, famine,  battle,  war,  are  the  footsteps  of  sin 
—  the  influences  it  leaves  behind  it,  the  crops  it 
sows  broadcast  while  it  passes  through  the  world ; 
but  it  shall  have  passed  to  its  doom,  when  this  world 
shall  be  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord."  And  disease  and 
death  shall  be  cast  out,  because  sin  has  been  pre- 
viously cast  out.  Disease  is  not  natural ;  death  is 
not  natural ;  pain  is  not  natural.  We  fancy  these 
things  are  natural ;  but  they  are  most  unnatural. 
Man  was  never  made  to  weep,  let  the  poet  say 
what  he  please :  man  was  never  meant  to  die ;  he 
was  made  holy ;  he  was  therefore  immortal ;  and 
if  sin  had  not  scathed  him,  death  had  never  touched 
him.  But  when  sin  is  cast  out,  and  the  conse- 
crating footfall  of  Jesus  is  heard  in  dewy  morn  and 
peaceful  eve,  disease  will  disappear,  death  will  dis- 


238  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

appear,  tears  will  disappear.  There  shall  be  no 
more  sorrow,  nor  crying,  nor  weeping ;  for  all  the 
former  things  have  passed  away.  Grey  hairs  are, 
no  doubt,  picturesque  ;  and  poets  may  so  represent 
them,  but  it  is  the  picturesqueness,  notwithstanding, 
of  death.  The  autumn  tints  are  very  beautiful,  and 
poets  may  sing  them ;  but  they  are  the  evidences 
of  approaching  decay.  Nature  tries  to  gild  what 
sin  has  left  as  the  evidence  of  its  presence,  but  it  is 
in  vain.  No  decay,  no  death,  no  disease,  was  meant 
to  be  originally ;  and  they  are  now  because  sin  has 
entered,  and  death  by  sin.  Everywhere  there  is 
the  evidence  of  this.  One  almost  wonders  that  a 
human  being  can  deny  the  Fall.  I  cannot  see 
wisdom — I  cannot  see  common  sense — in  any  other 
conclusion,  than  that  the  picture  in  Genesis  is  the 
portrait  of  actual  fact.  There  is  not  a  home  that 
has  not  its  shadow ;  there  is  not  a  heart  that  has 
not  its  hidden  griefs ;  there  is  not  a  frame  —  the 
healthiest  on  earth  —  that  is  not  penetrated  by 
many  a  pang. 


"  There  is  no  flock,  however  tended, 
But  one  dead  lamb  is  there ; 
There  is  no  fireside,  howsoe'er  defended, 
But  hath  one  vacant  chair. 

"  The  air  is  full  of  farewells  of  the  dying, 
And  mournings  for  the  dead ; 
The  heart  of  Rachel,  for  her  children  crying, 
Will  not  be  comforted." 


.\ 


THE   FINAL   DESTINY.  239 

And  what  does  this  prove  but  that  sin  hath  en- 
tered, and  death  by  sin  ?  In  that  day,  when  holi- 
ness shall  be  stamped  upon  all  created  things — and 
the  whole  of  this  world,  with  its  moral,  its  social, 
its  physical,  its  animate  and  inanimate  life,  shall 
have  engraved  upon  it,  "Holiness  to  the  Lord"  — 
Paradise  shall  return  in  richer  beauty  than  the  Pa- 
radise that  Adam  lost.  The  trees  of  every  forest, 
like  harp-strings  swept  by  the  wind,  shall  chant 
God's  praise,  as  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord ;"  the  rivers 
as  they  roll  sparkling  to  the  sea,  and  the  waves  of 
the  ocean  as  they  beat  upon  a  thousand  shores, 
shall  sing,  "Holiness  to  the  Lord ;"  the  flowers  of 
every  place,  and  of  every  season  of  the  year,  shall 
exhale  their  fragrance  as  their  best  tribute,  "  Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord :"  the  desert  and  the  wilderness 
shall  lay  aside  their  sorrowful  apparel,  and  put  on 
more  than  the  glory  of  Eden,  holiness  to  him  that 
reconsecrates  them  again :  the  springs  of  earth  shall 
leap  up  and  welcome  the  light  of  that  better  Sun. 
Language  shall  no  more  be  the  vehicle  of  false- 
hood, but  of  truth ;  music  shall  no  more  be  a  play- 
thing, but  the  solemn  and  grand  expression  of 
God's  praise ;  poetry  shall  no  more  gild  a  lie,  but 
be  devoted  to  God's  glory ;  and  all  that  man  is,  and 
all  that  is  around  man,  and  all  that  man  knows, 
shall  receive  its  consecration,  "Holiness  to  the 
Lord." 

Let  us  look  forward  with  joyous  hope,  with  holy 
and  exulting  expectancy,  to  a  day  when  all  wrongs 
shall  be  righted;  when  the  lost  and  severed  shall 


240  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

meet  again,  and  creation  be  restored  to  more  than 
its  first  beauty;  and  man,  who  has  wept,  and 
mourned,  and  suffered,  and  died  for  six  thoasand 
years,  shall  suffer,  and  mourn,  and  die  no  more. 

Are  we  individually  now — not  yet  in  fact,  but  in 
destiny — "  Holiness  to  the  Lord  ?"  Is  it  our  desire 
to  be  set  apart  to  him,  and  for  him,  and  fox  his 
glory?  Do  we  attach  any  meaning  to  the  text, 
"Whether  ye  eat,  or  drink,  do  all  to  the  glory"  — 
that  is,  receive  all  as  engraven  with  "  Holiness  to 
the  Lord?"  What  is  your  name?  "Christian." 
And  what  is  meant  by  "Christian?"  A  conse- 
crated person.  It  is  not  the  minister  that  is  set 
apart  only ;  it  is  the  people  also.  When  you  are 
baptized  as  children,  you  are  outwardly  set  apart, 
but  no  more ;  but  when  the  Holy  Spirit  regenerates 
your  heart,  you  are  inwardly  set  apart  with  "Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord."  Do  you  then  seek  first  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness  —  not  only, 
but  chiefly  ?  Religion  is  not  the  only  thing ;  trade, 
profession,  are  also  duties ;  and  what  we  ask  men 
to  do  is,  not  to  make  religion,  worship,  the  Bible, 
the  only  things ;  but  to  make  them  the  dominant, 
the  leading,  the  governing  things.  We  do  not  ask 
you  to  cease  to  be  men,  in  order  to  become  Chris- 
tians ;  but  to  be  Christian  men,  and  to  feel  that 
your  destiny,  as  it  ought  to  be  your  aspiration  in 
the  present,  is  "Holiness  to  the  Lord." 

But  you  cannot  consecrate  yourselves.  The 
high  priest  could  not  consecrate  himself;  he  needed 
to  be  consecrated  by  the  mysterious  and  inimitable 


THE  FINAL  DESTINY.  241 

oil,  that  it  was  death  for  any  man  to  make,  or  even 
to  try  to  imitate ;  you  need  to  be  consecrated  by 
an  unction  from  the  Holy  One.  The  Holy  Spirit 
is  the  Anointer,  the  Consecrator  of  the  people  of 
God :  he  engraves  the  signet  of  the  heart  with  the 
inscription,  "Holiness  to  the  Lord."  Justified  by 
Christ,  we  may  be  consecrated  by  his  Holy  Spirit. 
Purchased  by  Christ's  blood,  we  are  to  be  set  apart 
by  Christ's  Spirit.  The  blood  of  Christ  is  on  the 
believer,  that  he  may  be  redeemed  from  the  curse ; 
the  unction  of  the  Spirit  is  in  the  believer,  that  he 
may  be  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord ;"  Christ's  righteous- 
ness your  title  before  the  Lord;  holiness  to  the 
Lord  your  consecration  for  his  service,  and  to  his 
praise  and  glory. 

Are  we  thus  justified  ?  are  we  thus  consecrated? 
Let  us  seek  to  aspire  to  this.  Let  us  pray  that  we 
may  rise  to  a  right  apprehension  of  our  grandeur, 
not  by  nature,  but  by  grace ;  and  of  our  destiny  in 
that  day,  the  first  beams  of  which  begin  to  sprinkle 
the  distant  east,  giving  token  of  its  speedy  approach, 
when  the  very  bells  of  the  horses,  and  the  humblest 
vessels  in  the  humblest  household,  shall  be  "  Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord." 

One  song  employs  all  nations,  and  all  cry, 
Worthy  the  Lamb,  for  he  was  slain  for  us  ! 
The  dwellers  in  the  vales,  and  on  the  rocks, 
Shout  to  each  other ;  and  the  mountain-tops 
From  distant  mountains  catch  the  flying  joy, 
Till  nation  after  nation  taught  the  strain, 
Earth  rolls  the  rapturous  hosanna  round. 
Behold  the  measure  of  the  promise  fillM ; 
21  / 


242  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

See  Salem  built,  the  city  of  our  God  ! 
Bright  as  the  sun,  the  sacred  city  shines : 
All  kingdoms  and  all  princes  of  the  earth 
Flock  to  that  light ;  the  glory  of  all  lands 
Flows  into  her — unbounded  is  her  joy — 
Praises  in  all  her  gates  —  upon  her  walls, 
And  on  her  streets,  and  in  her  spacious  courts, 
Is  heard  Salvation.     Eastern  Java  there 
Kneels  with  the  native  of  the  furthest  West, 
And  Ethiopia  spreads  abroad  the  hand 
-  And  worships.    From  every  clime  they  come 
To  see  thy  beauty,  and  to  share  thy  joy, 
0  Zion !  an  assembly  such  as  earth 
Saw  never — such  as  heaven  stoops  down  to  see» 


h 


IT  IS  DONE.  243 


IX. 


IT  IS  DONE. 

The  words  of  the  Son  of  God,  "It  is  done," 
pronounced  toward  the  close  of  the  Apocalyptic 
drama,  seem  to  be  the  echoes  of  words  uttered  on 
the  cross.  "It  is  finished,"  closed  the  sacrifice; 
"It  is  done,"  winds  up  its  magnificent  results. 
What  was  then  finished  in  the  shape  of  purchase, 
shall  on  the  arrival  of  this  era  be  historically  per- 
fected and  confirmed.  The  words,  clearly  retro- 
spective in  their  bearing,  will  prove  to  the  listening 
universe  that  every  promise  and  prophecy  enun- 
ciated by  God  in  his  holy  Word  will  then  and  there 
be  completed  and  fulfilled. 

When  Jesus  said  upon  the  cross,  "  It  is  finished," 
ho  implied  that  all  that  related  to  his  agony,  as  a 
fact,  had  been  then  consummated ;  when  Jesus  says 
on  his  throne  of  glory,  "It  is  done,"  or,  "It  is 
finished,"  it  will  show  that  all  that  relates  to  his 
glory  then  and  there  has  come  to  pass.  The  first 
was  uttered  from  the  lips  of  the  Man  of  sorrows ; 
the  last  will  be  enunciated  by  Him  on  whose  head 
are  many  crowns,  who  is  Lord  of  lords,  and  King 
of  kings.  As  sure  as  he  drank  the  bitter  cup,  and 
finished  the  curse,  and  made  an  end  of  sin,  and 
brought  in  everlasting  righteousness,  so  sure  shall 


244  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

he  wear  many  crowns,  sway  the  sceptre  of  a 
universal  majesty,  reign  in  each  heart,  and  rule 
from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  to  the  utmost 
ends  of  the  earth. 

Let  us  notice  very  briefly,  not  much  in  detail, 
some  of  those  great  truths  that  shall  be  translated 
into  facts  when  Christ  comes  the  second  time,  with- 
out sin  unto  salvation,  to  receive  a  kingdom,  and 
to  reign  for  ever.  First,  then,  the  promise  pro- 
claimed in  Paradise  will  then  and  there  be  perfected 
in  all  respects — "The  woman's  seed  shall  bruise 
the  serpent's  head."  These  words  are  not  yet  fully 
accomplished.  Satan  fell  like  lightning  from  the 
heavens,  ere  Christ  left  the  earth ;  but  Satan  still, 
however  shackled  and  limited  in  his  aggression, 
walks  the  world,  its  untiring  foe,  and  goeth  about 
like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour. 
Satan  is  crippled,  but  he  is  not  yet  crushed.  His 
power  is  broken,  but  the  remnant  of  his  sceptre  is 
still  mighty  upon  earth.  But  when  Christ  shall 
come  again,  this  Angel  coming  down  from  heaven 
shall  lay  hold  upon  Satan,  that  "  old  serpent,"  and 
bind  him  in  chains  for  a  thousand  years ;  and  after 
the  respite  that  he  has — or,  if  I  may  use  the  words, 
enjoys,  for  sin  is  his  only  enjoyment,  and  to  injure 
is  the  only  happiness  he  knows — after  the  thousand 
years  shall  have  run  their  course,  and  h.e  shall  have 
again  gathered  them  that  dwell  in  the  four  parts 
of  the  earth,  to  assail  the  people  and  the  saints  of 
the  Most  High,  he  will  be  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire, 
which  is  the  second  death,  and  be  there  with  the 


IT  IS   DONE.  245 

beast  tormented  for  ever  and  ever.  Then  the 
promises,  which  had  their  birth  and  began  to  be 
fulfilled  at  the  cross,  shall  be  seen  fully  actualised 
beside  the  throne  in  the  Millennial  glory ;  and  that 
promise  which  sounded  so  musical  amid  the  wrecks 
of  Paradise — an  earnest  of  which  was  given  on  the 
cross  by  the  lips  of  Ilim  who  was  the  subject  of 
the  promise — shall  be  seen  in  all  its  perfection  and 
complete  accomplishment,  when  Satan  shall  be 
banished  from  the  earth  he  has  desecrated  so  long, 
and  man  shall  be  delivered  from  the  aggressions  of 
that  "old  serpent,"  that  foul  fiend,  whose  trail  and 
poison  are  traceable  in  the  sins  and  crimes  that 
have  stained  the  annals  and  disfigured  the  history 
of  mankind.  "It  shall  be  done,"  was  the  ancient 
promise ;  "It  is  done,"  will  be  answered  in  endless 
and  responsive  reverberations. 

The  promise  made  to  Abraham  so  often,  and  in 
such  varied  and  expressive  terms,  will  also  be  ful- 
filled. God  said  to  Abraham,  after  he  had  shown 
him  his  readiness  to  ofier  up  Isaac :  "  In  blessing  I 
will  bless  thee,  and  in  multiplying  I  will  multiply 
thy  seed,  as  the  stars  of  the  heaven,  and  as  the 
sand  which  is  upon  the  sea-shore;  and  thy  seed 
shall  possess  the  gate  of  his  enemies ;  and  in  thy 
seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed; 
because  thou  hast  obeyed  my  voice."  Abraham 
waits  and  looks  in  heaven  for  the  fulfilment  of  that 
promise.  It  is  not  yet  actual;  there  is  only  an 
earnest  and  a  foretaste  of  it.  Abraham  still  looks 
from  his  starry  throne  for  the  city  that  hath  founda- 
21-^ 


246  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

tions;  he  still  anticipates  the  true  Canaan,  the 
promised  rest  —  in  this  very  orh — that  remains  for 
the  people  of  God;  and  though  perfectly  happy, 
he  feels  that  his  happiness  will  not  have  reached  its 
culminating  greatness  until  the  dead  dust  that 
sleeps  in  the  cave  of  Mamre  shall  he  reknit  to  the 
soul  that  worships  with  the  cheruhim  heside  the 
throne ;  and  he  shall  see  literally  a  great  multitude 
that  no  man  can  numher,  praising  God  and  the 
Lamh,  and  at  last  he  told  by  Him  who  is  faithful 
and  true,  "  Ahraham,  here  is  the  promise  unspent 
in  the  lapse  of  six  thousand  years,  now  fulfilled  in 
all  nations  blessed  in  Christ ;  thy  seed  multiplied 
like  the  stars  in  the  firmament  above  thee,  and  like 
the  sands  on  the  sea  shore  beneath  thy  feet."  How 
faithful  is  God !  Are  not  all  his  promises  yea  and 
amen  in  Christ  Jesus  ? 

The  precious  promise  made  to  the  Messiah  will 
then  be  fulfilled  by  the  everlasting  Father.  "  He 
shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be 
satisfied,"  will  also  be  fulfilled.  All  that  he  now 
sees  is  a  handful,  though  that  handful  be  an 
earnest.  A  mere  minute  minority  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  earth  profess  Christianity  externally, 
and  a  still  smaller  section  of  the  outward  profess- 
ing Church  feel  Christianity  experimentally.  It 
cannot,  therefore,  be  said  that  Christ  has  yet  seen 
all  the  fruits  of  his  sore  agony  and  painful  travail. 
He  has  seen  enough  to  satisfy  that  the  whole  will  be ; 
the  first-fruits  already  wave  before  him,  but  the  full 
harvest  alone  will  satisfy  him.    Jesus  will  not  have 


IT  IS  DONE.  247 

found  the  full  purchase  of  his  travail,  nor  will  he 
have  seen  the  whole  fruits  of  "  his  agony  and  bloody 
sweat,"  until  his  Church  be  complete  in  character  and 
in  number,  and  Christ  have  the  pre-eminence  over 
all  the  earth,  and  all  be  blessed  in  him,  and  all  shall 
call  him  blessed.  Calvary  will  have  its  complement 
on  Mount  Zion  —  the  sorrows  of  the  cross  will  be 
more  than  compensated  by  the  glories  of  that 
crown.  Jesus  shall  then  see  that  he  died  not  in 
vain — that  not  a  handful,  but  a  mighty  multitude, 
are  the  product  of  his  sorrows,  and  the  purchase 
of  his  blood.  It  was  for  this — the  joy  set  before 
him,  and  soon  to  be  his  possession  —  that  he 
endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame. 

When  Christ  shall  say,  "  It  is  done,"  it  seems  to 
be  implied  that  all  the  promises  made  to  the  Church 
of  Christ,  as  to  her  future  glory  and  perfection,  will 
then  be  fulfilled.  We  cannot  read  Isaiah  without 
noticing  predictions  respecting  the  Church  of  the 
future,  so  brilliant  that  no  admissible  approxima- 
tion to  them  ever  seems  to  have  taken  place  since 
first  they  were  uttered.  We  are  constrained  to 
admit  that  those  bright  promises  relate  to  a 
coming  era  —  that  the  world  to  come  will  be  the 
theatre  of  their  development  —  that  that  bright 
scene  delineated  so  vividly  and  so  often  —  is  the 
time  when  the  Church  shall  arise  and  shine,  and 
put  on  her  beautiful  garments,  and  her  righteous- 
ness break  forth  like  brightness,  and  her  salvation 
like  a  lamp  that  burneth;  and  she  shall  be  pre- 
sented to  Christ,  no  longer  a  weeping  and  sorrow- 


248  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

stricken  follower,  but  a  glorious  Churcli — without 
wrinkle,  or  blemish,  or  any  such  thing  — a  bride 
ready  in  her  bridal  and  coronation  robes,  glorious 
and  spotless,  bright  as  the  sun,  fair  as  the  moon, 
and  majestic  as  an  army  with  banners.  The  Church, 
the  bride,  shall  be  complete  in  her  character,  com- 
plete in  her  constituent  numbers — a  perfect  Church, 
the  bride  of  the  great  Bridegroom.  . 

At  that  day  the  Jews  will  be  restored,  and  rein- 
stated in  their  lost  privileges.  It  is  impossible  to 
read  Isaiah  without  seeing  that  while  many  of  the 
prophecies — and  those  by  no  means  obscure  ones — 
describe  the  future  glory  of  the  Gentile  Church, 
the  very  choicest  and  most  brilliant  of  them  all  are 
descriptive  of  the  future  glory  of  the  Jewish  Church. 
The  Jews  had  the  pre-eminence  at  first,  and  we 
gather  from  all  ancient  prophecies  that  they  will 
have  the  pre-eminence  again.  The  dry  bones, 
scattered  over  all  the  valleys  of  the  earth  (exceed- 
ing many  and  exceeding  dry),  the  types  and  sym- 
bols of  the  children  of  Israel,  shall  hear  the  sound 
of  the  resurrection  trumpet,  and  shall  come,  bone 
to  bone,  and  sinew  to  sinew,  and  shall  be  clothed 
with  resurrection  flesh;  and  rise  up,  a  glorious 
army,  a  mighty  host,  singing  and  shouting  in  undy- 
ing strains,  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David;  blessed 
is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord !"  And 
of  that  very  Jewish  Church  it  is  said :  "  The  sons 
also  of  them  that  afflicted  thee  shall  come  bendine; 
unto  thee;  and  all  they  that  despised  thee  shall 
bow  themselves  down  at  the  soles  of  thy  feet :  and 


•   -^ 


IT   IS   DONE.  240 

they  sliall  call  thee  the  city  of  the  Lord,  the  Zion 
of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel."  We  gather,  from  all 
these  predictions,  that  the  Jews  will  occupy  a  very 
prominent  place  in  the  age  to  come.  The  words 
in  the  Hebrew,  called  "  the  world  to  come,"  ought 
to  be  translated,  "the  dispensation  to  come;"  in 
which  they  that  have  snftered  so  long  —  most  de- 
servedly suffered — will  be  more  than  compensated ; 
so  that  they  may  sing  now,  with  an  emphasis  with 
which  the  Gentile  cannot  say  it,  "  Our  present  suf- 
ferings are  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the 
glory  that  shall  be  revealed." 

At  that  day,  the  promises  of  the  new  heaven  and 
the  new  earth,  as  these  are  enunciated  in  the  Epis- 
tle of  Peter,  shall  be  all  realized.  "  The  day  oi 
the  Lord  will  come,"  he  says,  "as  a  thief  in  the 
night ;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away 
with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt 
with  fervent  heat ;  the  earth  also,  and  the  works 
that  are  therein,  shall  be  burned  up.  Seeing,  then, 
that  all  these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  what  man- 
ner of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversa- 
tion and  godliness ;  looking  for  and  hasting  unto 
the  coming  of  the  day  of  God,  wherein  the  heavens, 
being  on  fire,  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  elements 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat?  Nevertheless  we, 
according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and 
a  new  earth."  What  promise  is  this  ?  That  pro- 
mise which  Peter  recognised,  which  is  still  unspent, 
but  which  Peter  believed  to  be  reserved  for  the 
future,  is  contained  in  the  65th  chapter  of  Isaiah, 


250  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

at  the  ITtli  verse,  where  we  have  the  promise  given 
in  full,  graphic,  eloquent,  and  expressive  terms: 
"For  behold,  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth ;  and  the  former  shall  not  be  remembered, 
nor  come  into  mind.  But  be  ye  glad  and  rejoice 
for  ever  in  that  which  I  create ;  for,  behold,  I  create 
Jerusalem" — in  that  new  heaven  and  new  earth — 
"a  rejoicing,  and  her  people  a  joy.  And  I  will 
rejoice  in  Jerusalem,  and  joy  in  my  people ;  and  the 
voice  of  weeping  shall  be  no  more  heard  in  her, 
nor  the  voice  of  crying.  There  shall  be  no  more 
thence  an  infant  of  days,  nor  an  old  man  that  hath 
not  filled  his  days :  for  the  child  shall  die  an  hun- 
dred years  old ;  but  the  sinner,  being  an  hundred 
years  old,  shall  be  accursed."  Whether  that  relates 
to  the  Millennial  state,  prior  to  this  continuity  of  it, 
which  is  to  last  for  ever,  it  is  difficult  to  say ;  or 
whether  it  is  to  be  translated  figuratively,  meaning 
that  in  this  future  state  there  shall  be  no  death  at 
all.  Some  have  supposed  that  in  the  Millennial 
state,  the  first  thousand  years  of  it,  there  will  be 
deaths.  I  cannot  see  how  this  is  possible  among 
the  people  of  God :  they  are  in  their  resurrection 
bodies.  If  death  takes  place,  it  must  be  among 
those  who  are  spoken  of  as  at  the  four  corners  of 
the  globe,  unconverted  and  unsanctified,  called  Gog 
and  Magog,  who  rise  up  at  the  end,  in  rebellion 
against  the  saints  and  the  people  of  the  Most  High. 
But  I  incline  to  take  the  language  as  figurative  in 
this  part :  "  They  shall  build  houses,  and  inhabit 
them ;  and  they  shall  plant  vineyards,  and  eat  the 


IT  IS  DONE.  251 

fruit  of  them.  They  shall  not  build,  and  another 
inhabit;  they  shall  not  plant,  and  another  eat."  It 
is  said,  in  the  24th  verse :  "  Before  they  call,  I  will 
answer;  and  while  they  are  yet  speaking,  I  will 
hear.  The  wolf  and  the  lamb  shall  feed  together, 
and  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  bullock,  and 
dust  shall  be  the  serpent's  meat.  They  shall  not 
hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain,  saith  the 
Lord."  Nobody  can  assert  that  this  has  been  ful- 
filled. ITo  era  that  has  occurred  from  the  day  when 
Isaiah  uttered  this  —  that  is,  700  years  before  the 
death  of  Christ  to  the  present  moment — can  be  said 
with  any  propriety  to  have  been  even  an  approxima- 
tion to  this  glowing  prophecy  —  no  such  era  has 
ever  yet  taken  place ;  and  we  are  sure  it  had  not 
taken  place  before  Peter's  days,  for  he  says,  "  We, 
according  to  his  promise"  —  the  promise  we  have 
just  seen  —  "look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  That  pro- 
mise, therefore,  relates  to  a  future  in  which  every- 
thing shall  be  actually  fulfilled.  That  there  are 
difficulties  connected  with  every  view  of  unfulfilled 
prophecy  it  is  perfectly  reasonable  to  suppose ;  so 
there  are  in  every  other  interpretation.  The  ques- 
tion is,  in  which  view  is  the  greatest  amount  of 
difficulty  ?  On  the  side  of  those  who  believe  the 
Millennium  is  to  be  a  mere  improvement  and  ex- 
pansion of  the  existing  age,  to  be  followed  by  the 
last  judgment,  it  does  look  as  if  the  difficulties  were 
insurmountable ;  on  the  side  of  those  who  believe 
iJbat  the  advent  of  Christ  is  to  be  pre-Millennial, 
/ 


252  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

there  are  difficulties,  no  doubt,  but  these  are  few 
in  comparison  with  those  that  cling  to  the  other 
view.  If  all  the  future  were  as  luminous  as  the 
present,  man  would  cease  to  be  responsible;  but 
we  can  see  only  gleams  and  glimpses  of  the  future 
by  the  light  that  God  has  given,  and  we  must  not 
expect  to  penetrate  futurity — even  where  God  has 
revealed  it — and  find  a  transparency  and  clearness 
that  are  the  attributes  of  the  present  only.  But  is 
it  impossible  to  conclude  that  the  lion  will  eat  straw 
like  the  ox  ?  —  that  literally  the  lamb  and  the  lion 
shall  feed  together,  and  dust  be  the  serpent's  meat? 
These  animals,  at  present  in  an  abnormal  and  un- 
natural  state,  were  not  meant  to  be  voracious  and 
to  devour  in  their  original  condition.  True,  the 
physiologist  and  the  naturalist  will  appeal  to  their 
internal  visceral  structure,  and  to  the  organization 
of  their  teeth,  and  will  assert  that  they  were  made 
to  live  upon  other  animals.  God  made  them  clearly 
in  anticipation  of  what  afterward  took  place ;  for 
we  cannot  suppose  that  a  Being  who  saw  what 
would  be,  would  fail  to  make  pre-arrangements  for 
the  new  and  unnatural  phasis  that  was  to  come 
upon  the  earth.  It  is  not  at  all  probable  that  after 
the  Fall  the  lion  ceased  to  have  graminivorous 
teeth,  or  exchanged  them  for  carnivorous :  we  have 
no  evidence  of  such  a  transformation.  The  lion 
was  made  with  his  carnivorous  teeth  before  the 
Fall,  but  in  anticipation  of  a  new  state  of  things. 
The  Fall  did  not  come  upon  God  unexpectedly; 
he  knew  and  embraced  it  as  a  fact,  in  all  his  pre- 


IT   IS   DONE.  253 

arrangements  and  economy  for  the  future ;  and  so 
this  animal  organization  was  made  and  instituted 
by  God  specially  to  provide  for  what  would  be,  but 
still  for  a  state  of  which  God  himself  was  not  the 
Author,  and  for  which  he  is  not  responsible.  Pa- 
radise was  nature  —  the  present  earth  is  not. 

"It  is  done."  The  new  heavens  will  take  the 
place  of  the  old :  the  new  earth  will  emerge  from 
its  flood  of  flame  —  beautiful,  pure,  and  holy:  the 
desert  will  rejoice,  and  blossom  as  the  rose:  the 
creation  shall  be  the  consecrated  floor  of  a  sublime 
temple :  and  this  very  orb  itself  shall  be  the  high 
altar,  amid  the  orbs  of  the  universe,  where  God's 
glory  shall  be  seen  in  far  richer  splendour  than  ever 
shone  between  the  cherubim;  and  man's  true 
greatness  shall  be  realized,  as  it  was  when  man 
was  made  in  the  image  of  God  in  Paradise — holy, 
and  without  spot,  and  without  sin. 

"It  is  done."  The  first  resurrection  from  the 
dead  will  take  place.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  Millennial  state,  the  dead  in  Christ  rise  first. 
This  is  the  prophecy  of  every  prophet ;  it  was  the 
expectation  of  apostles,  evangelists,  and  saints ;  it 
was  the  prayer  of  Paul.  "If  by  any  means  I  may 
attain  unto  that  resurrection,  that  one  from  among 
the  dead."  And  when  Christ  shall  say,  "It  is 
done,"  then  the  saints  shall  be  raised ;  the  dust  of 
every  silei^t  iirn  shall  be  quickened,  the  remains 
that  are  scattered  through  the  depths  of  the  restless 
and  the  unfathomed  sea — the  dust  that  lies  beneath 
the  green  hillock,  and  in  marble  mausolea,  and 

.  ^    22  '/ 


254  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

Tinder  raonmnents  of  brass — all,  in  the  height  and 
in  the  depth,  in  the  land  and  in  the  sea — shall  hear 
the  voice  of  earth's  great  Creator  and  Redeemer, 
and  come  forth,  and  particle  to  particle  rejoin  each 
other,  and  clothe  anew,  beautiful,  perfect,  and  holy, 
that  soul  that  mourned  over  its  imperfections  on 
earth,  but  now  rejoices  in  its  recovered  glory,  and 
is  holy  and  satisfied  for  ever. 

At  that  era,  the  prophecy  in  the  15th  chapter  of 
1st  Corinthians  will  be  fulfilled.  Many  persons 
quote  that  prophecy  of  the  resurrection  as  if  it  were 
already  fulfilled.  "We  read  in  the  54th  verse,  "  So 
when  this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorrup- 
tion,  and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortal- 
ity, then  shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  saying  that  is 
written,  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory.  O 
death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  0  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory?"  Now,  that  is  not  yet  fulfilled.  When 
the  believer  dies,  he  may  sing  that  song  as  an  anti- 
cipatory anthem,  bat  not  as  a  result  actually  done; 
for  this  triumphant  song  shall  be  sung  only  at  that 
hour  when,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  dead 
shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be 
changed :  "  then  shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  say- 
ing that  is  written.  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  vic- 
tory. O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O  grave, 
where  is  thy  victory?"  In  other  words,  death 
shall  be  cast  with  hell  into  the  lake  of  fire.  There 
shall  be  no  more  dying.  Our  triumph  over  the 
grave  shall  be  imequivocal ;  our  victory  over  death 
shall  be  entire ;  then  we  may  begin  our  song  of 


IT  IS   DONE.  255 

triumph  and  defiance,  "O  death,  where  is  thy 
sting?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?"  All 
graves  are  closed;  the  palm  waves  where  the 
cypress  grew;  death  is  destroyed;  all  things  are 
become  new. 

Then  shall  be  fulfilled  all  the  benedictions  con- 
tained in  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  Matthew. 
"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart;"  that  is  their 
present  joy,  but  their  full  reward  is,  "  they  shall 
see  God."  Blessed  are  tbey  that  mourn;"  that 
is,  there  is  a  blessing  in  their  tears,  notwithstand- 
ing their  tears,  more  than  a  compensation  for  their 
sufiering ;  but  in  the  future  it  is,  "  for  they  shall 
be  comforted."  "Blessed  are  the  meek;"  their 
meekness  may  be  trodden  down  on  earth,  but  there 
is  a  blessing  even  here  in  developing  such  a 
character,  and  "they  shall  inherit  the  earth.** 
These  blessings  are  realized  now ;  but  the  promises 
attached  to  the  blessings  will  only  be  reaped  when 
Christ  shall  pronounce,  from  the  throne  from  which 
he  makes  all  things  new,  "It  is  done."  "Blessed 
and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  this  resurrection." 
"  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  king- 
dom prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world." 

The  whole  earth  will  then  be  covered  with  his 
glory.  Psalm  Ixxii.,  now  written  in  the  Bible,  will 
then  be  visible  and  audible  upon  the  length  and 
breadth  of  God's  created  world.  "  All  shall  bless 
him,  and  all  shall  be  blessed  in  him.  Blessed  be 
the  Lord,  the  God   of  Israel,  who  only  doeth 


256'  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

wondrous  things.  And  blessed  be  his  glorious 
name  for  ever ;  and  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled 
with  his  glory."  That  is  the  petition  and  the  pro- 
phecy of  David.  When  Christ  shall  say,  "  It  is 
done,"  the  last  verse  will  be  felt  true:  '"The 
prayers  of  David,  the  son  of  Jesse,  are  fulfilled." 
The  prayers  of  the  literal  David  are  closed,  and 
the  praises  of  the  children  of  the  true  David  are 
begun.  David  says.  My  prayers  shall  only  cease  to 
be  offered  up  when  the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled 
with  Christ's  glory.  Christ  will  say,  "It  is  done ;" 
then,  in  the  Millennial  state,  the  prayers  of  David, 
the  son  of  Jesse,  are  ended.  Now,  the  heathen  are 
not  yet  Christ's  actual  inheritance ;  now,  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  are  not  his  literal  posses- 
sion ;  then,  they  shall  strictly  and  literally  be  so. 
Every  thought  in  man's  mind  shall  be  light,  every 
affection  of  man's  heart  shall  be  purity,  every  pulse 
in  man's  heart  shall  be  music,  every  nerve  in  man's 
nature  shall  thrill  with  joy ;  the  whole  sky  shall 
glow  with  ceaseless  sunshine,  and  the  whole  earth 
be  covered  with  the  glory  of  Him  whose  glory 
makes  pale  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  and  dim  the 
light  of  the  moon,  who  is  the  Temple  of  the  uni- 
verse, wherein  is  no  need  of  the  sun  nor  of  the 
moon ;  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb 
are  the  light  thereof. 

Then,  also,  when  Christ  shall  say,  "  It  is  done,'* 

"shall  be  fulfilled  Christ's  prayer,  which  never  yet 

has  been  fulfilled :  "  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone, 

but  for  all  that  shall  believe  in  me  through  their 


IT   IS  DONE.  *  257 

preaching,  that  they  all  may  be  one,  even  as  I  am  ' 
in  thee,  and  thou  in  me,  that  the  world  may  know 
that  thou  hast  sent  me."  That  prophecy  will  not 
be  fulfilled  till  Christ  says,  "It  is  done."  Then 
the  Church  of  Christ  shall  be  Catholic,  not  Romish ; 
then  she  will  have  unity,  not  uniformity ;  then  she 
will  have  apostolic  truth  in  her  creed,  and  apostolic 
holiness  in  her  characte-;  there  will  not  be  a 
single  section,  nor  a  single  di\asion  or  disunion  in 
the  Kew  Jerusalem  —  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife, 
the  company  that  constitute  the  Church  and  the 
people  of  God. 

Then  heaven  and  earth  shall  be  reunited.  Earth 
is  a  fragment  broken  off  from  the  continent  of 
eternity  by  sin.  Severed  from  that  great  continent, 
it  has  remained  —  except  by  a  bridge,  a  pathway, 
like  Jacob's  ladder,  that  unites  them,  and  along 
which  we  can  travel.  But  as  long  as  the  pathway 
is  —  as  long  as  a  Mediator  exists,  discharging 
mediatorial  functions — so  long  there  is  separation; 
but  when  this  new  state  shall  come,  the  earth,  the 
broken-off  island,  shall  be  reknit  to  the  great  con- 
tinent of  heaven,  and  constitute  together  one  great 
realm,  bearing  the  traces  of  its  past  history,  because 
the  trophies  of  Christ's  triumph,  but  yet  part  and 
parcel  of  the  great  realm  and  continent  of  glory, 
of  light,  of  life. 

We  shall  see  the  explanation  and  the  solution  of 

all  the  difficulties  that  perplex  us.     Many  things 

we   now  read    in   the  Bible,   many  providential 

occurrences  befall  us,  that  we  cannot  now  explain. 

22* 


258  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

Why  is  tliat  one  so  smitten  ?  Why  is  some  other 
so  great  a  sufferer?  Here  is  a  bereavement  shrouded 
in  mystery.  I  cannot  see  why  death  entered  and 
crossed  my  threshold,  and  crossed  it  more  than 
once.  I  cannot  see  why  losses,  affliction,  sorrow, 
suffering,  have  all  been  poured  into  my  cup.  It  is 
inexplicable  now.  I  can  bear  it,  but  I  cannot  ex- 
plain it.  When  Christ  shall  say,  "It  is  done,"  then 
those  things  that  we  know  not  now,  we  shall  know 
hereafter ;  and  you  will  feel,  w^hat  now  you  hope, 
that  the  sorest  trial  was  as  necessary  for  your  salva- 
tion as  that  Christ  should  die  upon  the  cross,  and 
redeem  you  by  his  blood ;  that  not  an  incident  or 
accident  that  has  befallen  you  could  have  been  left 
out,  without  a  link  being  taken  from  the  chain 
that  lifts  you  from  the  footstool,  and  places  you 
beside  the  throne.  There  will  be  then  a  solution 
of  difficulties  we  cannot  now  explain — of  perplexi- 
ties we  cannot  now  unravel  —  of  experiences  we 
cannot  now  fathom,  and  in  the  light  in  which 
Christ  is  we  shall  see  and  understand  all  things 
clearly ;  and  we  shall  thank  God  that  He  refused 
many  a  prayer  we  offered,  as  we  shall  praise  Him 
that  He  answered  many  an  unworthy  petition  He 
himself  inspired ;  and  we  shall  marvel  in  the  light 
that  reveals  all,  and  the  splendour  that  solves  all, 
and  hesitate  to  decide  whether  God  showed  us 
greater  mercy  in  not  answering,  or  in  answering, 
many  a  prayer  that  we  presented  to  Him.  We 
shall  praise  God  in  louder  tones,  and  with  more 
joyous  hearts,  for  w^hat  He  did  hot  give,  though 


IT  IS   DONE.  259 

we  asked  it,  than  for  what  He  did  give  in  answer 
to  our  earnest  petitions. 

In  that  blessed  state  we  shall  meet,  and  recog- 
nise, and  spend  a  joyful  eternity  with  those  we 
were  severed  from  on  earth.  It  is  impossible  to 
believe  that  those  images  of  the  departed  dead 
that  are  treasured  up  in  memory,  as  in  a  picture- 
gallery,  are  to  be  expunged,  and  their  memories 
cease  for  ever.  Yes,  they  will  be  expunged,  they 
will  be  forgotten ;  but  it  will  be  the  images  dis- 
solving in  the  presence  of  the  originals ;  it  will  be 
recollection  fading  before  the  actual  presence  of 
those  we  need  no  more  to  recollect,  because  we  see 
them  face  to  face.  Then  links  wanting  in  domestic 
chains  will  be  restored — those  that  are  not  lost,  but 
gone  before,  will  meet  us  —  "and  death-divided 
friends,"  in  the  language  of  the  beautiful  para- 
phrase, "  at  last  shall  meet  to  part  no  more."  We 
cannot  suppose  that  we  shall  meet  in  heaven  and 
not  know  each  other:  this  seems  impossible. 
There  are  —  to  use  a  strange  word,  but  the  only 
word  that  is  applicable  in  every  man's  mind,  as  in 
every  man's  body  —  certain  idiosyncrasies  which 
constitute  his  personal  identity.  Let  us  refer  to 
the  most  intimate  friends  that  we  have.  We  could 
suppose  them  unclothed,  their  bodies  lying  in  the 
tomb,  and  their  spirits  only  holding  communion 
with  us  —  yet  we  should  know  them.  There  is  a 
tone  of  thought,  a  peculiarity  of  mental  structure 
—  idiosyncrasies  of  soul,  and  spirit,  and  heart  in 


u- 


260  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

each — that  together  constitute  his  identity  so  truly, 
that  I  could  recognise  him,  not  hy  his  outward 
form,  which  is  only  the  visible  development,  but 
by  his  inner,  moral  nature,  which  really  and  truly 
constitutes  the  man.  So  that  even  in  heaven  the 
disembodied  spirits  that  are  before  the  throne 
recognise  each  other;  and  far  happier  meetings 
than  ever  were  permitted  on  earth  take  place  there. 
But  that  recognition  will  be  more  perfect  when 
the  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality,  and  this  cor- 
ruptible shall  put  on  incorruptibility;  and  the 
features  that  so  gladdened  us  by  their  smile  below, 
will  be  seen  in  a  purer,  holier,  and  happier  realm ; 
and  friend  recount  to  friend,  as  the  Israelites  did 
w^hen  they  met  together,  all  the  way  that  God  led 
them  for  so  many  years :  and  how  they  were  led 
through  the  desert,  and  kept  the  faith,  and  now 
wear,  as  the  evidence  and  the  proof  of  it,  a  crown 
of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away. 

"When  Christ  shall  cry,  "  It  is  done,"  God  will 
be  glorified  as  He  never  was  before.  "Now  God 
is  glorified  by  the  cross  really,  but  not  to  the  same 
extent  in  which  He  will  be  glorified  when  Christ 
shall  wear  the  crown.  To  glorify  God  is  not  to 
add  anything  to  God,  but  simply  to  let  Him  be 
known.  A  finite  being  is  glorified  by  having 
something  added  to  him,  but  an  infinite  Being  is 
glorified  just  by  being  revealed.  The  clearest 
apocalypse  of  Deity  is  the  greatest  glory  to  Deity. 
God  is  now  seen  in  the  cross,  in  the  Scriptures,  iu 


^ 


IT  IS   DONE.  2^^ 

the  experience  of  saints ;  but  then  He  will  be  seen 
by  the  greatest  number,  surrounded  with  the 
greatest  glory ;  and  the  song  that  rose  from  angel 
lips,  and  has  been  uttered  with  stammering  tongues 
for  eighteen  hundred  years,  shall  then  be  lifted  up 
by  a  mighty  multitude,  as  the  sound  of  many 
waters  and  of  mighty  thunders :  "  Glory  to  God 
in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace,  good  will  towards 
men."  "It  is  done."  "I  am  Alpha  and  Omega. 
Behold  I  make  all  things  new." 


^ 


262  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH. 

What  a  blessed  thought  is  embosomed  in  the 
Psalmist's  words!  One  can  see  that  the  world 
would  soon  be  reduced  to  chaos  if  any  one  swayed 
the  sceptre  except  Him  who  is  the  Lord  of  heaven 
and  of  earth,  the  God,  the  Maker,  and  the  Gover- 
nor of  all.  Suppose  these  words,  "  The  Lord 
reigneth,"  were  translated  into  modern  speech; 
suppose  we  read,  or  rather  that  we  heard  from 
heaven,  ringing  as  a  divine  communication  that 
we  could  not  but  believe,  "  The  Autocrat  of  all  the 
Russias  reigneth."  Europe  would  be  an  aceldama, 
earth  a  desert,  despotism  would  be  supreme,  and 
abject  physical  and  moral  slavery  would  be  the 
portion  of  the  largest  part  of  the  earth.  Or,  sup- 
pose the  words  were,  "  The  Sultan  reigneth."  We 
might  have  a  little  more  civil  freedom,  but  we 
should  have  no  more  religious  comfort.  The  Cres- 
cent would  supplant  the  Cross,  the  Koran  would 
take  the  place  of  that  pure  and  beautiful  document 
the  Bible;  and  the  cimeter  or  the  tribute  would 
be  the  alternatives  presented  by  the  mufti,  and  ex- 
tortion, oppression,  or  subjection,  would  be  the 
portion  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Asia  and  of  Europe 
together.     Or  suppose  that  the  words  were,  "  The 


THE   LORD    REIGNETH.  263 

Pope  reignetb — Pio  Kono  reigneth."  Would  this 
be  any  comfort?  If  I  had  the  choice,  I  would 
rather  it  was  the  Sultan  than  the  Pope;  I  had 
almost  rather  be  a  Mahometan  than  a  Romanist; 
for  bad  as  the  Mahometans  are,  there  is  no  idolatry 
among  them :  they  worship  one  God ;  even  Maho- 
met is  not  their  God,  he  is  only  their  prophet ;  and 
the  singular  and  the  peculiar  character  of  the  mis- 
sion of  [Mahomet  w^as,  when  it  first  burst  upon 
Europe  and  upon  Asia,  to  punish  the  idolatrous 
nations  of  Christendom,  and  to  save  the  world 
from  the  universal  curse  of  idolatry.  But  if  Pio 
'Nono  reigned  —  alas,  alas!  w^e  should  have  the 
Crucifix,  but  not  the  Cross;  we  should  have  the 
priest  to  make  an  atonement  instead  of  the  ambas- 
sador of  God  to  proclaim  it  already  made;  our 
nobles  would  be  cardinals  in  red,  our  Bible 
would  be  clasped,  our  Prayer-book  would  be  the 
missal ;  and  our  Queen — when  Pio  INTono  felt  it  his 
interest  or  his  passion  to  attempt  it — like  a  previous 
possessor  of  a  throne,  would  be  paying  Peter-pence 
for  her  sovereignty ;  or,  like  the  German  Emperor, 
standing  in  the  trenches  around  Rome,  doing  pe- 
nance, and  seeking  from  a  man  absolution  from 
her  transgressions.  Or  suppose  that  the  laws  of  a 
material  philosophy  reigned ;  matters  would  not  be 
mended.  We  should  not  know  what  to  expect,  we 
should  not  be  able  to  interpret  the  least,  or  the 
most  perplexing,  or  the  plainest  phenomena;  all 
would  be  committed  to  blind  chance,  all  would  be 
under  the  laws  of  an  unbending  and  an  iron  des- 


264  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

potism ;  prayer  would  be  useless,  hope  would  be 
impossible ;  we  could  only  sit  down  like  the  ancient 
stoic,  and  conclude  it  was  a  virtue  not  to  feel,  and 
seek  in  suicide  a  refuge  from  the  calamities  and  the 
cares  of  life. 

But  what  a  blessed  thought !  It  is  not  the  Au- 
tocrat, nor  the  Sultan,  nor  Pio  Kono,  nor  iron  and 
hard  and  unbending  law ;  but  it  is,  "  The  Lord,  our 
Father,  reigneth;  our  covenant  God  reigneth;" 
therefore  what  He  does  w^ill  be  in  mercy,  what  He 
decides  will  be  in  wisdom.  The  mightiest  things 
shall  praise  Him,  the  least  things  shall  honour  Him, 
and  all  things  shall  obey  his  will,  and  promote  his 
glory,  and  execute  the  great  and  beneficent  ends 
which  He  contemplates  in  the  government  and 
arrangement  of  the  world. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  a  contrast  in  two 
Psalms.  In  the  97th  Psalm  it  is,  *' The  Lord 
reigneth,  let  the  earth  —  the  land,  Palestine,  the 
place  of  his  own  people — rejoice."  But  in  the  99th 
Psalm  a  different  deduction  is  made  from  the  same 
premise;  "The  Lord  reigneth;  let  the  people" 
{goim)  —  the  nations,  the  heathen  —  "tremble." 
"The  Lord  reigneth,"  is  to  his  own  people  the 
richest  comfort;  "The  Lord  reigneth,"  is  to  the 
enemies  of  God  the  greatest  calamity.  "  The  Lord 
reigneth"  is  to  his  own  people  the  greatest  comfort, 
because  it  teaches  them  there  is  no  chance.  What 
kind  of  a  sceptre  would  that  be  which  had  subjects 
that  could  resist  it  ?  What  a  governor  of  the  world 
would  he  be  who  was  dependent  on  the  fixity  or 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  265 

fugitive  changes  of  things  for  the  accomplishment 
of  his  purposes?  The  least  incident  that  befalls 
the  obscurest  saint  in  the  deepest  underground 
cellar  of  London  is  as  much  the  mission,  and  as 
completely  beneath  the  control  of  God,  as  is  the 
flight  of  the  soaring  angel  that  is  about  his  throne, 
or  the  mission  of  an  apostle  or  an  evangelist  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  all  mankind.  That  blow  that 
swept  away  the  property  your  industry  had  amassed 
was  from  Him :  that  chasm  which  the  loss  of  the 
near  and  dear  has  left  irremediable  behind  was 
from  Him.  A  Father's  hand  inflicts  the  severest 
blow ;  paternal  love  is  in  every  suffering.  You  are 
not  to  argue,  "I  suffer,  therefore  God  hates  me;" 
but  "  God  is  my  Father,  therefore  all  that  he  does 
co-operates  for  good,  works  together  beneficently 
to  me,  and  for  glor}%  honour,  and  praise  to  his 
name."  I  know  not  a  truth  more  precious  in  the 
Psalms  than  this,  "  The  Lord  reigneth."  How  de- 
lightful to  look  abroad  upon  the  world,  to  listen  to 
the  preparations  at  Plymouth,  and  Portsmouth, 
and  Devonport;  to  hear  the  moving  and  arranging, 
and  gathering  together  of  vast  armies,  and  to  know 
that  God's  eyes  see  all — that  those  great  men  that 
are  moving  them  are  all  carrying  out  what  he  de- 
signs, and  that  not  one  can  take  a  step  on  earth 
that  had  not  first  its  decision  in  heaven !  "  The 
Lord  reigneth."  There  is  no  chance,  there  is  no 
accident. 

Let  the  man  whose  biography  has  been  the 
barest,  whose  life  Ij^s  had  th^  fewest  eddies  and 

k.  • 


266  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

the  least  startling  incidents,  look  back,  and  he  will 
see  that  upon  the  turning  of  a  corner  depended  the 
complexion  of  a  lifetime — that  upon  an  accidental 
meeting,  or  an  accidental  occasion,  with  an  unex- 
pected person,  depended  all  he  now  is,  much  he  now 
feels,  and  more  he  now  hopes  for.  It  was  the  turning 
of  a  straw  that  brought  one  into  contact  with  that 
truth  which  has  made  him  a  new  man  —  it  was  an 
incidental  conversation  in  a  railway  carriage,  in  a 
steamboat,  in  an  omnibus,  or  some  news-room,  that 
brought  another  where  was  heard  the  Gospel,  that  will 
add  one  to  the  choirs  of  the  blessed,  and  give  a  home 
of  happiness  and  joy  beyond  the  stars.  If  you  can 
prove  to  me  that  God  does  not  reign  in  little  things, 
I  will  prove  to  you,  with  demonstration  irrefraga- 
ble, that  there  is  no  God  at  all.  I  say,  if  God  does 
not  reign  and  rule  in  the  least  incident  that  hap- 
pens to  a  believer,  God  does  not  reign  and  rule  at 
all.  Whilst  I  use  means  wherever  means  are  sug- 
gested by  what  is  part  of  Christianity,  common 
sense — while  I  employ  every  effort  to  promote  my 
health,  and  every  means  within  my  power  to  per- 
petuate my  life,  and  avoid  every  peril  that  would 
in  the  least  degree  endanger  it  — yet  I  am  just  as 
sure  as  I  am  of  my  own  existence,  that  I  am  im- 
mortal till  I  have  finished  the  work  that  God  has 
given  me  to  do.  There  is  not  a  soldier  upon 
eastern  plains  that  has  not  a  mission  ;  and  as  soon 
only  as  his  sword  has  executed  God's  behest,  he 
will  be  removed  from  the  field  of  conflict  below, 
if  a  Christian,  to  the  realms  of  everlasting  repose 


THE  LORD  REIGNETH.  26T 

above.  It  may  be  thought  a  vulgar  aphorism,  but 
it  is  a  most  just  one — "Every  bullet  has  its  billet;'* 
and  it  is  neither  the  Autocrat,  nor  the  Sultan,  nor 
chance,  that  writes  the  name  upon  the  bullet ;  it 
is  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven:  for  "the  Lord 
reigneth."  The  Lord  reigns  in  the  Baltic,  he  reigns 
in  the  Euxine,  amid  showers  of  balls,  amid  the  roar 
of  cannon ;  and  there  is  not  an  accidental  ball  that 
accidentally  hits  a  single  soldier ;  there  is  not  an 
accidental  stroke  that  accidentally  overtakes  a 
single  sailor ;  all  is  settled,  all  is  adjusted,  before 
the  years  of  time  began  to  roll.  What  a  comfort 
is  this !  When  the  soldier  goes  forth  into  the  field 
he  may  carry  with  him  this  absolute  assurance, 
"  My  days  were  numbered  long  ago,  and  if  I  am 
to  finish  them  here  it  must  be  so ;  if  not,  I  am  in 
the  care  and  in  the  providential  keeping  of  my 
Father,  who  reigneth."  Yet  this  is  not  fa{;alism. 
The  fatalism  of  the  Moslem  folds  its  hands,  gathers 
round  it  its  mantle,  sits  down,  and  says,  "It  is 
God's  decree;  we  are  to  do  nothing."  But  the 
trust  of  the  Christian  has  recourse  to  every  energy, 
and  efibrt,  and  reasonable  means,  and  employs  for 
defence  what  God  in  his  providence  puts  within  his 
power ;  and  the  soldier  that  believes  that  his  life  is 
in  God's  keeping  is  not  the  less  heroic  on  the  field, 
or  the  less  composed  in  the  hour  of  battle  and  of 
conflict.  Carry  with  you,  then,  into  the  chambers 
of  the  sick,  feel  beside  the  pillows  of  the  dying, 
enjoy  in  the  vigils  of  the  long  and  the  weary  night, 
carry  into   all  your  trials,  remember  in  all  your 


268  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

tribulations,  "The  Lord  reignetli;"  that  there  ia 
no  chance,  no  accident ;  that  all  is  right,  and  all 
must  resolve  itself  into  the  gi'eatest  glory  to  Him 
that  reigns,  and  into  the  greatest  good  of  the  sub- 
jects that  obey. 

God  has  been  ruling  and  reigning  ever  since  the 
world  had  a  being.  Merle  D'Aubigne  has  made 
the  remark  —  a  remark  which  I  tried  several  years 
ago  to  illustrate, — "  God  is  in  history ;  and  all  his- 
tory has  its  unity,  because  God  is  in  it."  Eead 
Macaulay,  or  Alison,  or  D'Aubigne  —  ever  recol- 
lecting at  the  commencement  and  the  close  of 
every  chapter,  "  The  Lord  reigneth" — and  you  will 
see  that  where  they  are  faithful,  they  are  simply 
witnesses  to  the  grand  and  the  blessed  fact. 

Let  us  review  some  instances.  In  one  of  the 
Gospels  it  is  stated,  "  A  decree  went  out  from  Cae- 
sar Aijgustus,  that  the  whole  world  should  be 
taxed."  That  was  an  ordinary  political  decree; 
every  one,  as  the  effect  of  it,  we  are  told  in  Luke 
ii.,  went  to  his  own  city  to  be  taxed.  We  can  see 
nothing  in  that  decree  at  first  glance  —  nothing 
seemed  more  ordinary.  But  when  we  come  to 
compare  the  fact  that  Caesar  commanded  with  a 
prophecy  that  God  had  written,  we  find  Caesar's 
decree,  accomplishing  Caesar's  end,  was  really  sub- 
serving God's  great  purpose,  and  that  it  was  by 
this  decree  of  the  hea-then  ruler  that  Mary  and 
Joseph  went  to  their  own  city,  and  that  the  ancient 
prophecy  was  fulfilled,  "  Thou  Bethlehem  Ephra- 
tah,  though  thou  be  little  among  the  thousands  of 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH.  269 

Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall  he  come  forth  unto  me 
that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel;  whose  goings  forth 
have  been  from  of  old,  from  everlasting." 

At  the  day  of  Pentecost,  nothing  was  more  acci- 
dental apparently  to  the  world  than  that  there 
should  be  a  vast  assemblage  of  Jews  at  Jerusalem. 
On  that  very  occasion  the  Holy  Spirit  was  poured 
out,  and  they  that  came  to  make  market  learned 
what  Christ  had  done ;  the  merchants  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth  went  back  from  the  scene  bear- 
ing merchandise  more  precious  than  gold  and 
pearls ;  and  the  result  of  that  Pentecostal  effusion 
in  the  midst  of  the  vast  congress  that  had  come 
together  upon  mere  matters  of  business,  was,  that 
the  Gospel  was  carried  forth  from  Jerusalem  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth ;  and  nations  that  had  never 
heard  it  before,  heard  and  received,  and  welcomed 
the  joyful  sound. 

On  a  subsequent  occasion  the  apostle  Paul  was 
so  persecuted  by  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees,  that 
he  was  seized  as  a  criminal,  cast  as  a  prisoner  into 
a  gaol ;  his  life  was  threatened ;  in  sheer  despair 
he  appealed  from  the  inveterate  fury  of  the  priests 
to  Caesar,  who  swayed  the  imperial  sceptre ;  and 
they  were  constrained,  contrary  to  their  will,  to 
send  Paul  on  a  long,  a  weary,  and  a  wintry  voyage, 
to  the  great  metropolis  of  the  world. 

Kow,  at  first  blush  nothing  could  be  more  acci- 
dental. The  Pharisees,  the  Sadducees,  the  Scribes 
did  not  wish  to  send  him  to  Rome :  it  seemed,  too, 
when  he  left  Judea,  that  he  abandoned  the  congre- 
23*  ,i 


270  SIGNS    OF   THE   TIMES. 

gation  where  his  ministry  had  been  blessed,  to  go 
to  a  h<3athen  one,  where  he  had  no  reason  to 
expect  a  blessing  at  all.  But  what  was  the  result? 
Paul  preached  at  Rome,  first  in  his  own  hired 
house,  to  a  few  reckless  Roman  soldiers ;  but  by- 
and-by,  the  shopmen  on  the  streets,  the  tradesmen 
in  the  Forum,  the  orators  in  the  courts — even  they 
of  Caesar's  palace,  the  high  officers  of  state — came 
into  contact  with  this  eloquent  but  obscure  and 
detested  Christian  Jew;  and  the  result  of  that 
appeal  from  the  persecution  of  the  Scribe  to  the 
protection  of  Csesar  was,  that  the  Gospel  spread 
through  every  part  of  the  metropolis  of  the  world, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  heard  of  Christ  who 
never  could  have  heard  of  him  under  any  other 
circumstances.  The  efifect  and  influence  of  this 
opportunity  lay  here:  —  a  truth  made  known  at 
Rome  could  never  stop  there.  Rome  at  that  day 
was  the  whispering-gallery  of  the  wide  world ;  a 
new  light  there  radiated  to  Ultima  Thule,  and  to 
the  most  distant  parts  of  the  globe ;  a  new  doctrine 
promulgated  in  the  capital  was  sure  to  be  heard  of 
over  all  the  provinces.  Accordingly,  we  find  from 
history  that  the  actual  result  was,  that  this  acci- 
dental persecution  of  Paul  by  the  Jews,  this  acci- 
dental appeal  to  Csesar  for  protection,  this  acci- 
dental escape  from  shipwreck,  this  accidental 
appearance  in  the  midst  of  Rome,  was  the  means 
of  kindling  a  light  that  was  not  soon  extinguished, 
and  of  circulating  that  Gospel  which  otherwise  had 
been   restricted  to  very  narrow  and   puny  limits. 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH.  271 

What  raust  be  the  inference  from  this?  The 
Pharisee  hated,  the  Apostle  appealed,  the  winds 
wafted  the  ship ;  but  the  Lord  reigned,  and  regu- 
lated, and  ordered  all. 

Soon  after  this,  a  poor,  obscure,  and  miserable 
man,  descended  of  a  broken-down  family,  reduced 
to  beggary,  came  into  public  notice  in  Rome.  His 
name  is  recorded  in  history  as  Constant!  ne,  tlie 
first  Christian  emperor.  In  one  of  his  battles  he 
saw,  either  in  imagination  or  in  reality,  a  cross  of 
unearthly  splendour  blazing  in  the  firmament ;  and 
he  read  on  the  cross,  where  the  two  pieces  of  wood 
were  fastened  together,  iv  ro^rw  v/xa — "  In  this  over- 
come," or,  "In  this  gain  the  victory."  He  em- 
braced Christianity  from  this  wonderful  apocalypse 
— he  proclaimed  what  formerly  he  persecuted — he 
forced  it  on  his  soldiers,  a  course  that  we  cannot 
approve,  but  which  was  nevertheless  followed  by 
many  practical  and  remarkable  results ;  for  the 
cross  of  Christ,  the  very  synonyme  of  all  that  was 
detested,  was  emblazoned  on  the  imperial  Laba- 
rum ;  and  the  name  of  Jesus,  no  more  the  detested 
Nazarite,  came  to  be  the  glory  of  princes  and  the 
light  of  the  palaces  of  the  greatest  empire  of  the 
earth. 

Soon  after  this  we  find  a  thousand  years  of  dense 
and  deplorable  darkness  lighted  on  broad  Europe ; 
and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  notwithstanding 
^  the  light  that  had  burst  from  Palestine,  were  in- 
volved in  a  darkness  so  deep  that  it  could  almost 
be  felt ;  and  the  only  and  the  incidental  lights  in 


272  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  midst  of  it  were  the  few  and  far  between  con- 
vents, that  learning  oftener  than  piety  had  con- 
structed, to  be  the  last  retreats  of  the  literature  and 
the  science  of  the  world.  The  Church  of  Rome  will 
say,  "  Then  you  make  the  admission  that  mediaeval 
convents  were  the  retreats  of  mediaeval  learning." 
I  make  the  admission ;  but  the  fact  that  they  were 
the  retreats  of  learning  is  a  proof  that  learning 
must  have  been  previously  persecuted.  Why  need 
a  retreat,  if  she  had  not  an  oppressor  ?  And  who 
were  the  great  persecutors  of  learning  ?  Just  the 
Popes  of  Rome ;  and  for  a  person  to  put  out  the 
sun,  if  he  had  the  power,  and  in  the  darkness  that 
follows  light  a  few  gas-lamps,  and  then  coolly  tell 
us  that  we  are  indebted  to  him  for  the  only  light 
we  have,  is  only  an  ingenious  way  of  disguising 
and  concealing  the  first  great  crime  that  was  per- 
petrated. For  the  same  Rome  that  kindled  the 
few  lights  in  the  convents  had  previously  put 
out  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shining  from  the 
firmament  upon  the  world.  During  this  black 
night,  so  dark  and  so  disastrous  that  it  seemed  as 
if  God  did  not  reign,  we  shall  yet  find,  in  the  midst 
of  the  darkness  permitted  as  a  penalty,  lights 
breaking  out,  still  revealing  the  truth,  "  The  Lord 
reigneth."  In  the  course  of  that  dark  era,  the 
Mahometan  brought  into  Europe  lights  that  the 
Romanist,  to  his  deep  shame,  almost,  if  not 
altogether,  had  quenched.  Constantinople  fell  — 
the  Greek  literati  in  that  capital  were  scattered 
throughout  Europe  —  Greek  learning  came  to  be 

...A 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  273 

studied — the  Romish  Church  had  almost  lost  the 
knowledge  of  the  Greek  language ;  and  some  of 
its  most  distinguished  literati  said,  in  the  Univer- 
sities of  Europe,  that  every  man  that  would  learn 
Hebrew  would  become  a  Jew,  and  that  every  man 
that  learned  Greek  was  sure  to  become  a  Greek 
schismatic;  obstructing  the  very  knowledge  that 
brought  men  to  the  very  fountain  of  light  and  life 
—  God's  holy  work.  But  these  Greek  literati 
brought  their  own  stores  with  them  into  Europe : 
by-and-by,  printing  was  discovered  —  then  the 
mariner's  compass  —  by-and-by,  the  feudal  system, 
with  its  iron  and  yet  petty  tyranny,  was  broken 
up.  And  all  these  things  were  not  human  acci- 
dents, or  merely  secular  things:  the  mariner*8 
compass  is  a  sacred  thing  —  printing  is  a  sacred 
thing ;  and  we  are  as  much  indebted  to  God  for 
printing  and  for  the  mariner's  compass  as  we  are 
for  the  Word  of  God  itself  I  c^not  admit  that 
80  much  man  is  to  have  the  glory  of,  and  that  so 
much  God  is  to  have  the  glory  of  These  are 
sacred,  and  not  profane  things.  They  may  be  per- 
verted by  a  profane  hand  to  evil,  but  they  may  also 
be  consecrated  by  the  blessing  of  God  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  highest  good.  And  the  re- 
sult of  all  this  was,  that  light  streamed  from  Con- 
stantinople to  Rome ;  the  benighted  nations  of  the 
earth  emerged  into  a  new  and  unexpected  twilight; 
and,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  more,  Erasmus, 
with  his  satire  —  Melancthon,  the  accomplished 
scholar,  and  the  friend  and  assistant  of  Luther  — 


274  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

and  ultimately  Martin  Luther  himself — helped  to 
scatter,  by  God's  blessing,  the  darkness  that  en- 
veloped the  earth,  and  to  strike  out  that  light  which 
has  shone  in  deepening  glory  for  the  three  centuries 
that  have  passed  away.  If  we  study  the  biography 
of  Luther,  that  most  remarkable  man,  we  shall 
find  that  God  reigns  in  the  biography  of  indi- 
viduals as  well  as  in  the  annals  and  chapters  of  the 
history  of  mankind.  He  w^as  one  day  begging 
bread  upon  the  street:  he  heard  an  awakened 
Protestant  denounce  the  corruptions  of  the  Papacy ; 
that  first  called  his  mind  to  the  subject.  Another 
day  he  was  reduced  to  starvation  ;  he  was  singing 
upon  the  streets  of  one  of  the  cities  of  Germany 
for  a  morsel  of  bread.  The  pious  and  affectionate 
wife  of  Conrad  Cotta  gave  poor  Luther  accidentally, 
as  the  world  would  say,  a  meal.  She  was  so  pleased 
with  the  open,  frank,  and  amiable  boy,  that  she 
took  him  to  her  house,  became  his  patroness,  put 
him  to  a  good  school.  That  was  not  chance ;  there 
was  God  there  just  as  anywhere  else;  and  if 
Luther  had  not  heard  that  man  denouncing  Roman- 
ism—  if  Conrad  Cotta's  wife  had  not  given  that 
poor  starved  and  begging  lad  a  meal — in  all  proba- 
bility the  whole  current  of  European  history  had 
been  reversed.  In  the  library  of  the  College  where 
he  was  placed,  he  discovered  for  the  first  time  a 
complete  Bible;  and  opening  that  blessed  book, 
he  detected  in  it  a  portrait  of  himself  by  nature, 
and  a  portrait  of  what  he  might  be  made  by 
grace.      His  whole  mind  is  startled  —  his  heart 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  275 

is  stirred  to  its  very  depths;  he  feels  himself — 
what  grace  always  strikes  deepest  when  it  teaches 
—  a  poor,  miserable,  and  guilty  sinner.  In  his 
great  distress,  he  flies  to  Staupitz,  the  vicar-general 
of  the  convent :  he  tells  him,  "  Oh  !  I  have  learned 
that  I  am  a  poor,  miserable  sinner ;  I  find  that  I 
never  can  be  justified  by  deeds  of  law ;  I  cannot 
see  how  I  can  possibly  ever  get  to  heaven.  Oh," 
he  said,  "  I  am  such  a  poor,  such  a  guilty,  such  a 
miserable  sinner!"  And  Staupitz  said,  "Luther, 
it  is  well  that  you  feel  so ;  it  is  for  sinners  that  there 
is  a  Saviour.  If  you  be  only  a  make-believe 
sinner,  then  there  is  nothing  but  a  make-believe 
Saviour  for  you ;  but  if  you  be  indeed  a  poor, 
miserable  sinner,  to  save  such  sinners  as  you  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world."  And 
Luther  got  peace  from  that  vicar-general  —  peace 
in  Christ  and  through  the  blood  of  the  Cross ;  and 
went  forth  on  his  majestic  mission,  translated  the 
Scriptures  into  the  tongue  of  his  fatherland, 
preached  in  every  street  and  city  in  Germany, 
awakened  dead  nations,  feared  not  the  voice  of 
clay,  awoke  that  light  which  shines  in  our  own  land, 
startled  the  sleeping  echoes  of  a  thousand  years ; 
and  the  Vatican  and  the  Inquisition  have  not  ceased 
till  now  to  re-echo  the  last  accents  that  Martin 
Luther  wakened  first  upon  the  streets  of  Witten- 
berg. Was  not  that  proof  that  the  Lord  reigns  ? 
Is  there  not  evidence  there  of  God  overruling 
and  governing  all  to  his  glory,  and  to  the  good  of 
his  people?  ^- 


276  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

ISTot  very  many  years  after  that,  au  effort  was 
made  to  crush  the  religion  and  to  extinguish  the 
light  that  Luther  had  kindled.  Philip  the  Second 
(personated  in  his  servant  the  Duke  of  Alva)  waged 
the  wars,  the  fierce  and  exterminating  wars,  in  the 
Low  Country.  These  were  efforts  to  exterminate 
Protestant  Christianity:  but  by  the  overruling 
providence  of  Him  that  reigned  in  Holland,  and 
saw  and  watched  the  efforts  of  his  foes,  these  were 
overruled  to  the  establishment  of  Protestantism  in 
Holland ;  and  at  this  moment  Holland  is  one  of 
the  most  Protestant  nations  of  the  world;  and 
when  the  Pope,  the  other  year,  attempted  to  favour 
Holland  with  the  same  presence  with  which  he 
honoured  us,  in  1850,  the  Dutch  rose  as  one  man, 
backed  and  sustained  by  their  most  eminent  states- 
men, repelled  the  insolent  aggression  with  a  magna- 
nimity and  national  force  which  we  even  might 
have  imitated  with  advantage. 

Soon  after  this  the  same  cruel  and  sanguinary 
prince  resolved  to  extinguish  that  land  (our  own), 
rising  every  day  to  be  the  reflector  of  the  truth 
over  all  the  ends  of  the  earth.  We  find  that  he 
arranged  for  the  destruction  of  England  —  under 
the  behind-the-scene  teaching  of  the  Popes  and  the 
Jesuits  of  Pome  —  a  powerful  and,  as  he  thought, 
irresistible  Armada,  armed  with  all  sorts  of  engines 
of  torture,  in  order  to  extinguish  the  light  of  Pro- 
testantism in  England,  and  crush  for  ever  the  here- 
tics by  which  that  land  was  stained.  And  in  order 
that  the  enterprise  might  have  success,  the  Pope 

A 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH.  277 

that  day  most  piously  blessed  it ;  and  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  action  of  the  invading  force  of  super- 
stition, he  deposed  Queen  Elizabeth  from  her 
throne,  released  her  subjects  from  their  allegiance, 
and  taught  them  and  told  them  that  they  might 
murder  her  —  not  murder,  for  that  was  not  his 
phrase — but  that  they  might  kill  her ;  and  instead 
of  subjects  rising  against  their  Queen,  it  would 
only  be  holy  people  doing  God  and  his  Church 
holy  and  efficient  service.  All  seemed  to  be  hope- 
less as  far  as  human  sagacity  could  foresee;  but 
Philip  the  Second,  and  the  Pope,  and  their  myrmi- 
dons, forgot  the  text,  "  The  Lord  reigneth."  The 
Armada,  we  are  told,  after  being  shattered  by  tem- 
pests, and  losing  its  admiral,  approached  our  shores 
in  the  shape  of  a  magnificent  crescent,  extending, 
from  end  to  end,  over  a  space  of  about  seven  miles. 
Our  ships  were  few,  but  our  hearts  were  brave; 
our  cause,  like  our  present  one,  was  holy,  righteous, 
and  just.  And  what  was  the  result?  Not  one 
shattered  wreck  of  that  formidable  Armada  re- 
turned to  its  own  shores  to  tell  the  story  of  its 
disaster;  not  a  timber  of  it  was  left  afloat;  and 
Queen  Elizabeth,  in  a  spirit  worthy  of  the  Protes- 
tant Queen  of  a  Protestant  realm,  had  medallions 
or  medals  struck  that  day  by  her  own  royal  order ; 
and  upon  those  medals  were  written  the  words, 
JDeus  flavit  et  dissipantur,  "God  breathed  upon 
them  and  they  are  scattered  to  the  winds  of  hea- 
ven;" giving  God  the  glory,  acknowledging  that 
24 


'278  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

victory  was  not  by  might  nor  by  power.     "The 
Lord  reigneth." 

Now  in  all  these  instances  —  and  they  might  be 
multiplied,  from  the  history  of  our  country,  down 
to  the  present  moment  —  we  must  see  how  true  it 
is,  "  The  Lord  reigneth."  And  so  we  might  come 
down  to  more  recent  years:  what  endless  proofs 
of  his  presence,  what  tokens  of  his  love,  what  a 
ceaseless  comment  has  been  the  history  of  our  na- 
tion for  the  last  hundred  years,  illuminating  with 
irresistible  splendour  the  simple  but  sublime  apho- 
rism of  the  Psalmist,  **  The  Lord  reigneth !"  And 
if  we  were  to  turn  now  from  home  to  foreign  lands, 
and  notice  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  abroad,  we 
should  see  how  there,  ever  since  1793  —  when  the 
angel  of  the  everlasting  Gospel  emerged  from  the 
chaos  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  the  various 
missionary  societies  started  on  their  beneficent  fields 
—  there  has  been  proof  in  every  part  of  the  globe 
that  the  Lord  is  reigning.  For  a  long  time  India 
was  inaccessible  to  the  truth;  and  some  of  the 
ancient  potentates  of  that  land  believed  that  if  the 
Gospel  were  admitted  into  Hindostan,  our  supre- 
macy and  sovereignty  in  India  would  be  shattered. 
But  the  result  by  this  time  —  under  the  presidency 
of  Lord  Dalhousie,  an  elder  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, and  one  of  the  most  Christian  and  devoted 
Governors  that  India  ever  had  —  is  that  Christian- 
ity, as  it  is  spread  among  the  Hindoos,  instead  of 
detaching  them  from  our  sovereignty  and  our  scep- 
tre, only  attaches  them  to  our  fatherland  the  more. 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  279 

And  we  have  found  that  ever  since  the  permission 
was  given  to  missionaries  of  the  Gospel  to  visit 
that  land,  the  Gospel  has  sometimes  slowly,  but 
always  steadily,  made  progress  from  the  Ganges  to 
its  utmost  bounds.  The  excellent  and  pious  Dr. 
Wilson,  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  writing  home  a  short 
time  ago,  says :  "  A  few  years  since  everything  wa^ 
jungle ;  now  everything  is  teeming  irrthis  district 
with  Christian  civilization."  And  if  we  refer  to 
China,  what  an  evidence  there  of  the  presence  of 
God !  In  one  moment  the  impregnable  walls  have 
fallen ;  in  a  day  a  nation  has  started  to  its  feet. 
Do  not  believe  some  of  the  newspapers  upon  that 
subject.  I  am  told  by  the  most  competent  autho- 
rity, that  the  Jesuits  are  trying  to  blacken  the  in- 
fant and  imperfect  Christianity  of  those  that  are 
denounced  at  present  as  the  rebels,  but  who  are 
likely  soon  to  constitute  the  reigning  dynasty  of 
China.  I  ana  informed  by  those  that  have  the 
means  of  knowing  well,  that  through  some  myste- 
rious teaching,  in  all  probability,  the  first  breath 
r>f  the  last  Pentecostal  eftusion  of  the  Spirit,  not 
hundreds,  not  thousands,  not  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands, but  probably  millions,  have  come  at  once  to 
know  that  Christ  is  the  only  Saviour,  that  the  !N'ew 
Testament  is  the  book  of  God ;  and  to  insist  upon, 
and  practise,  and  develop,  a  morality  so  pure  that 
it  shames  the  Papal,  and  even  some  sections  of  the 
Protestant  nations  of  the  world.  And  again,  if  we 
look  at  other  parts  of  the  globe,  we  shall  see  the 
same  blessed  results.    There  is  hope  at  last  for  all 


280  SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES. 

but  hopeless  Africa.  That  country  has  been  thought 
to  be  utterly  impregnable  to  Christian  effort.  Our 
steamers  have  navigated  its  streams,  and  their 
crews  have  died  in  succession ;  the  malaria  or 
miasma  on  the  banks  of  the  great  rivers,  seemed 
to  tell  us  that  foreigners  or  Europeans  never  can 
penetrate  into  Africa,  and  promote  the  Gospel  on 
anything  like  a  great  and  a  rapid  scale.  But  sin- 
gular enough,  what  seemed  a  curse,  and  what  had 
become  the  shame  and  disgrace  of  a  powerful  re- 
public in  the  West  —  I  mean  the  slave  trade  —  is 
being  overruled,  by  the  mysterious  arrangements 
of  Him  who  reigns,  for  the  evangelization  of  that 
land  which  seemed  to  be  all  but  hopeless,  and  to 
defy  every  effort  that  we  made  to  reach  it.  By 
means  of  Christian  missionaries,  the  slaves  in 
America  are  becoming  Christians ;  and  the  most 
hard-hearted  slave-holders  of  the  South  cannot, 
and  the  most  enlightened  do  not,  prevent  faithful 
missionaries  and  ministers  preaching  to  the  slaves 
the  glad  tidings  of  eternal  life.  These  slaves,  Afri- 
cans in  their  origin,  never  forgetting  their  home, 
are  seized  at  intervals  with  an  irresistible  instinct 
to  go  to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  A  number  of 
them  have  gone  to  Liberia ;  vast  numbers  of  them 
are  returning  every  year;  and  it  is  found  that  they 
are  carrying  with  them  the  glorious  Gospel ;  and 
in  a  climate  where  their  constitution  feels  perfectly 
at  home  they  are  becoming  the  successful  preach- 
ers of  that  Gospel  which  we  have  not  been 
honoured  to  carry  into  the  midst  of  their  dark, 

) 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH.  281 

and  barbarous,  and  benighted  land.  Can  we  doubt 
that  the  Lord  reigns,  when  out  of  evil  he  thus 
educes  good  ?  Can  we  doubt  that  the  Lord  reigns, 
when  he  is  thus  opening  up  a  free  course  for  the 
circulation  of  his  Word  and  the  spread  of  his  glo- 
rious Gospel  by  means  and  instrumentalities  as 
striking  as  they  are  unpredecented  in  history 
before. 

In  Turkey  in  Europe  there  are  at  this  moment 
about  three  millions  of  Mahometans,  and  there  are 
nine  millions  of  professing  Christians  —  I  wish  I 
could  say  more — but  professing  Christians.  Any- 
body can  see  that  such  a  state  of  things  as  that 
cannot  very  long  continue.  We  find  now  that  in 
Turkey  the  Armenian  Christians  —  an  ancient 
Church  that  traces  its  descent  to  Ararat,  and  that 
holds  Ararat  to  be  its  great  rallying  centre  to  this 
day — have,  by  the  instrumentality  of  missionaries, 
been  brought  to  a  vast  extent,  and  in  great  num- 
bers, to  the  knowledge  of  the  everlasting  Gospel. 
These  American  missionaries,  writing  home  to 
their  country,  state  that  numbers  of  the  Armenian 
bishops  and  priests,  having  access  to  the  Bible,  are 
becoming  acquainted  with  the  word  of  God :  and 
in  Turkey  at  this  moment  they  are  the  chief  agri- 
culturists and  merchants,  and  have  the  greatest 
influence  in  the  land ;  and  amongst  them  there  is 
a  growing  spirit  of  inquiry.  An  American  mis- 
sionary^, writing  home  to  America,  states,  that  a 
few  years  ago,  "  Very  few  of  the  Armenian  Chris- 
tians would  venture  to  call  upon  me ;  I  could  hardly 


24* 


f 


282  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

hold  a  prayer-meeting  amongst  them  without  ter- 
ror ;  but  now  they  are  gathered  into  churches,  be- 
coming fond  of  the  truth,  and  I  can  hold  prayer- 
meetings  in  the  midst  of  them  without  the  least 
inconvenience,  persecution,  or  opposition."  And 
so  widely  had  the  Gospel  spread  among  these  Ar- 
menian Christians,  that  the  Patriarch,  as  if  he  had 
imbibed  the  spirit  of  the  Pope,  resolved  to  crush 
them,  and  besought  the  Sultan  to  interpose,  and 
banish  from  the  land  those  who,  he  said,  were 
troubling  the  quiet  and  the  repose  of  the  Christian 
Churches.  But  the  Sultan  —  with  a  liberality  that 
does  him  infinite  credit,  and  that  contrasts  splen- 
didly with  the  bigotry  and  persecution  of  Pio  Nono 
—  told  the  Patriarch  that  no  man,  whatever  was 
his  creed,  should  sufler  persecution  for  any  creed 
under  his  sceptre :  a  sentiment  that  indicates  what 
a  change  the  paddle-wheel,  the  steamboat  and  the 
railway,  and  the  locomotive  and  the  printing-press, 
have  operated  already  in  Turkey. 

There  was  scarcely  a  Protestant  chapel  in  all 
Turkey  in  1832;  in  1854,  there  are  between  fifty 
and  sixty  places  of  Protestant  worship.  Turkey, 
we  have  seen,  is  in  the  very  last  gasp.  One  writes, 
only  a  very  few  years  ago  :  "  Turkey  is  in  the  ago- 
nies of  dissolution,  and  will  very  soon  be  a  corpse. 
There  is  no  law,  no  safety,  no  security  for  property, 
in  this  unhappy  country.  Plague,  pestilence,  and 
famine,  are  rapidly  depopulating  it.  It  needs  no 
prophecy  to  satisfy  me  that  Mahometanism  is  now 
falling  into  ruins,  and  must  very  soon  cease." 


Of 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH.  283 

A  Christian's  oath,  by  a  decision  in  the  present 
year,  is  now  received  as  an  Osmanli's ;  at  this  mo- 
ment, the  Sheik-ul-Islam  —  their  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  as  you  might  call  him  —  is  deposed  ; 
the  endowments  of  the  mosques  are  confiscated ; 
Mahometanism  is  giving  up  every  peculiarity  it  had 
left,  and  thus  proves  that  we  are  arrived  at  the 
sixth  vial,  when  the  great  river  Euphrates  is  dried 
up,  and  when  the  nations  of  the  earth,  from  the 
East  and  the  West,  assemble  together  to  wage  the 
great  and  last  conflict  of  God  Almighty — that  ter- 
rible conflict,  the  outlines  of  which  we  need  not 
now  trace.  All  those  incidents  that  are  startling 
the  East,  and  reflected  from  the  West,  are  proofs 
to  them  that  run  while  they  read,  that  "  the  Lord 
reigneth ;"  all  these  are  proofs  that  he  has  not  left 
this  orb  to  orphanage,  that  he  has  not  forsaken  his 
church,  nor  forgotten  the  world  that  he  made ;  but 
that,  though  we  think  all  is  confusion,  all  is  really 
working  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God, 
and  are  the  called  according  to  his  gracious  pur- 
pose. K  a  person  were  to  look  at  the  machinery 
of  a  steamer  —  one  wheel  goes  in  one  direction, 
another  in  the  opposite;  one  piston  moves  one 
way,  and  the  other  piston  moves  the  opposite — his 
inference  would  be,  if  he  were  an  ignorant  person, 
"  This  machinery  can  accomplish  nothing ;  it  is  all 
at  cross  purposes."  But  if  he  will  look  at  the 
vessel  of  which  it  forms  a  part,  he  will  find  she  is 
proceeding  on  her  course  at  the  rate  of  ten  or 
twelve  miles  an  hour  across  the  pathless  ocean; 


^d4'  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

and  what  seemed  to  him  conflict,  confusion,  and 
chaos,  is  only  evidence  of  the  nobler  and  the  com- 
pleter order. 

The  same  blessed  truth  is  strikingly  shown 
among  God's  ancient  people:  throughout  all  the 
world  they  are  giving  token  that  the  breath  of 
heaven  is  passing  on  the  dry  bones,  and  that  they 
are  very  soon  likely  to  be  a  great  and  a  royal 
nation.  They  will  first  be  restored  to  their  land, 
that  next  in  their  land  they  will  be  made  acquainted 
with  the  glorious  Gospel.  And  it  is  so  interesting 
to  read  the  incidents  that  are  turning  up  every  day 
affecting  that  people,  that  one  cannot  but  see  the 
overruling  hand  of  God  in  what  is  now  taking 
place.  At  this  very  moment  I  learned  from  a 
friend  —  I  will  not  say  that  I  know  it  to  be  true  — 
that  there  is  a  treaty  with  the  Sultan,  either  pro- 
posed by  him,  or  offered  by  a  Jew  whose  name  is 
synonymous  with  all  the  wealth  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Cabinets  of  the  world,  that  he  will  lend  him  a 
very  large  sum  to  carry  on  the  war  with  Russia, 
on  condition  that  he  will  give  the  Jews  Palestine 
as  a  pledge  to  hold  while  that  loan  continues. 
"What  is  this  but  man,  under  the  presidency  of 
God,  already  beginning  to  expedite  the  fulfilment 
of  the  prophecies  of  Scripture?  Every  Jew's 
heart  beats  to  Jerusalem ;  even  the  most  wretched 
and  degraded  "  old-clothes  "  dealer  on  the  streets 
will  tell  you,  in  his  calmest  moments,  "  If  I  forget 
thee,  O  Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget  its 
cunning,  and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my 


A 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH.  285 

mouth ;"  and  the  last  desire  of  the  dying  Jew  is 
to  be  buried  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  poorest  pilgrims 
of  that  race  are  wending  their  way,  in  increasing 
and  deepening  currents,  that  they  may  die  with  the 
last  beams  of  the  sun  of  Palestine  playing  upon 
their  closing  eyes.  And  looking  at  Jerusalem  at 
this  moment,  there  are  more  Jews  than  there  have 
been  for  the  last  seventeen  hundred  years  in  it ;  at 
this  moment,  too,  there  is  an  awakening  among 
the  Jews,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Jew- 
ish Mission,  instituted  by  the  Church  of  England, 
where  there  is  a  bishop,  hated  by  the  Papists,  but 
heartily  welcomed  by  the  inquiring  Jew ;  and  in 
that  capital,  illustrious  by  a  thousand  historic 
recollections,  many  a  Jew  is  now  looking  upon 
Him  whom  his  fathers  crucified,  and  is  mourning 
—  nay,  not  mourning,  but  rejoicing  —  in  the  faith 
and  the  hopes  of  the  glorious  Gospel. 

The  Jewish  question,  we  have  seen,  is  at  this 
moment  almost  the  question  of  the  age.  It  agitates 
every  Cabinet,  it  perplexes  every  government. 
And  why?  I  can  understand  how  statesmen 
should  be  plagued  with  the  application  of  Roman- 
ists, because  they  constitute  a  large  and  a  powerful 
section  of  the  community.  But  why  should  any 
Government  perplex  or  tease  itself  about  the  admis- 
sion of  a  handful  of  Jews,  that  disturb  nobody  ? 
They  are  not  regicides,  they  are  not  rebels ;  if  you 
do  not  admit  them  to  power,  they  will  not  trouble 
you.  Why  is  it,  then,  that  the  statesmen  of  the 
nation  are  perplexed  at  this  moment  with  the  Jew- 


286  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

ish  question  ?  The  answer  is,  it  is  the  first  token  of 
their  approaching  resurrection;  it  is  the  Jew's 
struggle  in  his  heart,  seeking  a  rest  and  a  repose 
for  the  soles  of  his  feet ;  but,  like  the  dove  that 
Noah  sent  forth  from  the  ark,  he  will  find,  neither 
in  parliament,  nor  congress,  nor  divan,  a  rest ;  and 
as  soon  as  he  has  secured  the  place  that  he  aimed 
at,  he  will  only  thirst  the  more  for  Jerusalem,  and 
find  his  rest  where  his  God  has  promised  it  shall 
be  found — where  the  wings  of  the  cherubim  were 
once  spread,  and  the  glory  once  burned  upon  the 
altar,  and  the  land  once  teemed  with  miracles,  and 
all  things  attested  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  the 
God  of  hosts. 

Can  w^e  then  fail  to  see  in  this  also  another 
proof  of  the  truth  of  the  statement,  "  The  Lord 
reigneth?"  And  very  remarkable  it  is,  the  things 
that  men  design  to  do,  God  overrules  to  accomplish 
what  man  never  meant  to  do.  The  alchymists 
toiled  to  discover  the  philosopher's  stone ;  that  was 
their  object;  but  they  were  the  means  of  making 
some  of  the  most  precious  discoveries  that  have 
enriched  civilization.  Columbus  crossed  the  ocean 
to  find  out  a  new  route  to  the  Indies;  but  his 
crossing  the  ocean  for  his  own  purpose  was  over- 
ruled to  discover  the  great  western  continent, 
likely  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  bulwarks  of  free- 
dom, and  of  Protestant  Christianity.  Luther  first 
rose  to  oppose  the  sale  of  indulgences,  which  he 
regarded  as  a  gross  abuse ;  but  as  he  penetrated 
deeper,  he  found  he  must  not  only  lop  ofl:*  branches, 


!?>/ 


THE  LORD   REIGNETH.  287 

but  root  out  the  whole  system.  ISTations  think  they 
are  accomplishing  their  own  ends :  they  are  really 
fulfilling  the  prophecies  of  God.  The  Autocrat 
thinks,  in  the  course  he  is  now  pursuing,  that  he 
is  about  to  add  to  the  splendour  of  his  crown,  the 
increase  and  extent  of  his  dominion,  and  get  new 
additions  to  his  powerful  and  his  mighty  empire ; 
but  in  reality  he  is  just  going  to  do  what  the  poor- 
est Irish  labourers  are  doing  in  the  streets  of 
London  —  making  a  high-road  for  God's  great 
purposes  to  drive  onwards  to  their  accomplishment. 
He  thinks,  poor  man,  that  he  is  the  mighty  mover 
of  a  world ;  he  is  but  the  humble  street-paver  in 
the  hands  qf  Him  that  reigns  and  rules  over  all  the 
earth.  And  not  the  least  of  the  purposes  he  is 
now  getting  ready  to  accomplish,  though  he  knows 
it  not,  is  to  open  a  road  for  the  Jews  to  march  from 
their  distant  quarters  in  a  more  glorious  exodus 
than  that  which  came  forth  from  Egypt ;  and  not 
to  pause  in  their  eastern  march  until  they  are 
settled,  all  their  tribeu,  in  their  own  pleasant 
country,  where  the  Lord  shall  return  again  unto 
Mount  Zion,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  shine  again 
before  his  ancients  gloriously. 

Thus  man  plans,  God  purposes ;  thus  all  things 
prove  the  statement  we  have  tried  to  illustrate, 
not  sought  to  prove,  "The  Lord  reigneth."  Let 
Christians  trust,  and  not  be  afraid.  Do  not  be 
alarmed  when  a  leaf  falls,  as  if  the  world  were  go- 
ing to  ruin.  "  Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God." 
Christians,  who  have  relatives  exposed  to  peril, 


288  SIGNS   OP  THE   TIMES. 

trust  and  be  not  afraid.  Your  husband,  your 
brother,  your  dear  relatives,  are  safe  upon  the 
battle  fields  of  the  East  as  you  are  in  your  own 
home ;  for  God  is  in  the  East  as,  well  as  the  distant 
"West.  Christians,  be  not  afraid  that  God's  pur- 
poses will  fail.  All  things  aid  them,  all  things  fulfil 
them ;  and  what  we  now  admit  as  an  article  of  our 
Creed,  with  stammering  lips,  we  shall  one  day  cele- 
brate as  a  joyous  note  in  our  everlasting  song: 
"The  Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth  rejoice.  Tho 
Lord  reigneth,  let  the  nations  tremble." 


THE    BND. 


f 


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THE   HEAVENLY   RECOGNITION, 
THE   HEAVENLY   HOxVEE. 

HREE   TOLUMES,   NEATLY  BOUND   IN  CLOTB,  WITH    GILT   BACKS,   AND   A  PORTRAIT 
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i  sf tone 


IINDSAY  &.  BLAKISTON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


AN  ILLUSTRATED  LIFE  OF  MARTIN  LUTHER, 

THE  GREAT  GERMAN  REFORMER.  With  a  Sketch  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany. 
Edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by  the  Rev.  Theophiius  Stork,  D.D.,  late  Pastor  of  St. 
Mark's  Luthern  Church,  Philadelphia.  Beautifully  Illustrated  by  sixteen  designs,  printed 
on  fine  paper.    A  handsome  octavo  yolume. 

Price)  in  clotli,  gilt  backs,  -  >  >  ■  -  $3  00 

full  gilt,  ------  a  50 

.     In  embossed  leather,  marble  edges,  gilt  backs,  ^-c*,  fi  fi5 

The  world  owes  much  to  Luther,  and  the  Reformation  of  which  he  was  the  prominent  leader,  and 
notriingr,  save  the  pure,  simple  word  of  God,  will  do  more  towards  securing  the  prevalence  and  per- 
petuating the  influence  of  the  principles  of  religious  liberty  for  which  he  and  the  other  Reformers 
contended,  than  the  circulation  of  a  boolt  in  which  the  mental  processes  by  which  he  arrived  at  his 
conclusions,  are  set  forth.  We  can  safely  recommend  this  book  as  one  that  is  worthy  of  a  place  in 
every  dwelling,  and  we  hope  its  circulation  may  be  as  wide  as  its  merits  are  deserving.— £t;an(;s/jcai 
Magazine. 

THE  LIFE  OF  PHILIP  MELANCHTHON, 

THE  FRIEND  AND  COMPANION  OF  LUTHER,  According  to  hia  Inner  and  Outer  Life. 
Translated  from  the  German  of  Charles  Frederick  Ledderhose,  by  the  Rev.  Q.  F.  Keotel, 
Pastor  of  the  Trinity  Lutheran  Church,  Lancaster,  Pa.  With  a  Portrait  of  Melanchthon. 
In  one  Volume,  12mo.    Price  $1  00. 


THE  PARABLES  OF  FRED'K  ADOLPHUS  KRUMMACHER. 

From  the  seventh  German  edition.    Elegantly  Illustrated  by  Twenty-six  Original  Designs, 
beautifully  printed  on  fine  paper.    A  handsome  demy  octavo  volume. 

Blegantly  bound  in  cloth,  gilt  backs,         -         -         -         Price  $1  7.9 
full  gilt  sides,  backs  and  edges,  2  50 

Turkey  morocco,  antique,         -  4  00 

The  simple  and  Christian  parables  of  Krummacher,  chiefly  the  productions  of  his  younger  years, 
have  acquired  a  wide  popularity,  and  have  long  aflTorded  a  fund  on  which  our  periodicals  have  freely 
drawn.  In  their  collected  form  they  have  passed  through  various  editions  in  Germany,  but  we  doubt 
whether  any  of  them  have  been  so  tasteful  and  beautiful  in  all  their  appliances  as  the  one  before  us. 
The  typography  is  very  chaste,  and  the  illustrations  neat  and  appropriate. — Presbyterian. 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  DAILY  DELIGHT. 

A  SACRED  GARLAND,  CULLED  FROM  ENGLISH  AND  AMERICAN  POETS.    Beauti- 
fully Illustrated  by  Eight  Engravings  on  Steel. 

In  one  volume,  demy,  octavo,  clotH,  gilt  backs,        -        Price  $1  50 

full  gilt  sides,  backs  and  edges,     ^25 

In  this  attractive  volume  we  find  much  to  please  the  eye  ;  but  the  most  valuati'e  recommendation 
of  the  w(irk  is  found  ii.  the  lessons  of  piety,  virtue,  morality,  and  mercy,  which  are  throwu  fogethwi 
ia  Uut  many-«oio!it«d  gurJand  of  poetic  flowers.— i(j»»»oopai  if^coriia. 


LINDSAY  &.  BLAKISTON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

PROCTOR'S   HISTORY    OF    THE    CRUSADES. 

With  154  Illustrations. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CRUSADES, 

THEIR  RISE,  PROGRESS,  AND  RESULTS.     By  Major  Proctor,  tt  tho 
Royal  Military  Academy. 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  I.  The  First  Crusade.— Causes  of  the  Crnsades — Preaching  oi  the 
First  Crusade — Peter  the  Hermit — Tho  Crusade  undertaken  by  the  Peop'e — 
The  Crusade  undertaken  by  the  Kings  and  Nobles — The  First  Crusaders  at 
Constantinople — The  Siege  of  Nice — Defeat  of  the  Turks — Seizure  of  Edessa — 
Siege  and  Capture  of  Antioch  by  the  Crusaders — Defence  of  Antioch  by  the 
Crusaders — Siege  and  Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  tho  Crusaders. 

CHAPTER  II.  Thr  Second  Crusade.— State  of  the  Latin  Kingdom— Origin 
of  the  Orders  of  Religious  Chivalry — Fall  of  Edessa — Preaching  of  the  Second 
Crusade — Louis  VII.  and  Conrad  III.  in  Palestine. 

CHAPTER  III.  The  Third  Crusade.— The  Rise  of  Saladin— Battle  of  Tibe- 
rias, and  Fall  of  Jerusalem — The  Germans  undertake  the  Crusade — Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion  in  Palestine.  ' 

CHAPTER  rv.  The  Fourth  Crusade.— The  French,  Germans,  and  Italians 
unite  in  the  Crusade — Affairs  of  the  Eastern  Empire — Expedition  against  Con- 
Btantinople — Second  Siege  of  Constantinople. 

CHAPTER  V.  The  Last  Four  Crusades. — History  of  the  Latin  Empu-«  of 
tho  Eastr-The  Fifth  Crusade— The  Sixth  Crusade— The  Seventh  Crusade-  -The 
Eighth  Crusade. 

CHAPTER  VL— Consequences  op  the  Crusades. 


At  the  present  time,  rrhen  a  misunderstanding  concerning  the  Holy  Places  at 
Jerusalem  has  given  rise  to  a  war  involving  four  of  the  great  Powers  of  Europe, 
the  mind  naturally  reverts  to  the  period  when  nearly  all  the  military  powers  of 
Europe  made  a  descent  on  Palestine  for  the  recovery  of  them  from  the  possession 
of  the  infidels.  It  would  seem  that  the  interest  in  these  places  is  still  alive ;  and 
the  history  of  the  Holy  Wars  in  Palestine  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  maybe  supposed  to  form  an  attractive  theme  for  the  general  reader. 

Under  this  impression  Major  Proctor's  excellent  "History  of  the  Crusades"  has 
been  carefully  revised,  some  additions  made,  a  series  of  illustrative  engravings, 
executed  by  first-rate  artists,  introduced,  and  the  edition  is  now  respectfully  sub- 
mitted to  the  public. 

The  editor,  in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  has  been  struck  with  the  masterly, 
clear,  and  lucid  method  in  which  the  author  has  executed  the  work — a  work  of 
considerable  difficulty,  when  we  consider  the  long  period  and  the  multiplicity  of 
important  events  embraced  in  the  history;  nor  has  the  editor  been  less  impressed 
with  the  vigorous  style,  and  the  happy  power  of  giving  vividness,  colour,  and 
thrilling  interest  to  the  events  which  he  narrates,  so  conspicuous  in  Major  Proc- 
tor's history.  No  other  historian  of  the  Crusades  has  succeeded  in  comprising  so 
complete  and  entertaining  a  narrative  in  so  reasonable  a  compass. 

A  Handsome  Octavo  Volume,  bound  in  Cloth,  with  appropriate  Designs,  $2  25 
rantly  gilt, 3  00 


LINDSAY  8u  BLAKISTON'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
THE  SEPULCHRES  OF  OUR  DEPARTED. 

BY  THE  REV.  F.  R.  ANSPAOH,  A.M. 

"  As  flowers  wbich  night,  when  day  is  o'er,  perfume, 
Breathes  the  sweet  memory  from  a  good  man's  tomb." 

Sir  E.  L.  Bulvoer. 
Third  Edition.    In  one  Vol.,  12mo.     Price  $1.     Cloth,  gilt.  $1  50. 

I  his  is  a  volum*  to  comfort  and  to  cheer ;  to  render  the  grave  familiar,  and  to  derive  from  its  co» 
temptation  the  most  encouraging  hopes.  A  fine  tone  pervades  the  volume,  and  it  abounds  in  just  sen 
timents  ornately  expressed.  We  should  be  glad  to  see  that  general  seriousness  of  feeling  which  woul  j 
make  such  a  volume  popular.— PresMerw/i. 

All  Christians  who  are  looking  forward  to  the  bliss  of  heaven,  by  passing  through  the  tomb,  will  be 
strengthened  and  comforted  by  glancing  over  the  lessons  here  inculcated  as  addressed  to  the  pilgrim 
in  search  of  that  better  conntXY. —Christian  Chrontcle. 

THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

A  Beautiful  Presentation  Volume.      By  the  Rev.  Theophilus  Stork,  D.  D., 

Pastor  of  St.  Mark's  Lutheran  Church,  Philadelphia. 

12mo.,  Cloth,  75  Cents ;  in  full  gilt,  $1  00. 

"  How  oft,  heart-sick  and  sore, 
I've  wished  I  were  once  mora 

A  little  child."— ilfra.  Southep. 
The  general  contents,  the  devotional  and  lovely  spirit  that  pervades  it,  the  flowmg,  lucid,  and  rich 
diction,  the  sound  sentiments,  the  encouragements  to  parents  to  bring  up  their  children  in  the  fear  of 
the  Lord,  the  abounding  consolations  for  those  who  in  God's  providence  have  been  called  to  yield  up 
their  little  ones  to  Him  who  gave  them,  these  and  other  characteristics,  render  this  book  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  valuable  of  the  kind  that  has  for  a  long  time  been  presented  to  the  public — 
Lutheran  Observer. 

STRUGGLES  FOR  LIFE,  An  Autobiography. 
In  One  Vol.,  12mo.    Price  $1  00. 

What  Sunny  and  Shady  Side  are,  as  descriptive  of  American  Pastoral  Life,  this  delightful  volume  ia 
as  descriptive  of  the  Life  of  an  English  pastor.  It  describes,  in  a  most  felicitous  style,  his  labours, 
trials,  sorrows,  pleasures,  and  joys.  But,  perhaps,  its  chief  value  consiste  in  the  vivid  views  it  gives 
of  human  nature  as  illustrated  in  the  leading  characteristics  of  English  society,  manners,  and  custom*. 


THE  POETICAL  WORKS  OF  JAMES  MONTGOMERY. 

The  only  complete  edition ;  collected  and  prepared  by  him  just  prior  to  his  death. 

With  a  Portrait.     One  Volume,  octavo. 
Price,  in  Library  style,  $2  00 ;  Cloth,  full  gilt,  $3  00 ;  Turkey  Morocco,  $4  00. 

The  poetry  of  the  Sheffield  bard  has  an  established  reputation  among  serious  readers  of  everv  class 
The  spirit  of  the  humble  Christian  and  the  pure  Philanthropist,  breathes  through  it  all;  and  few  will 
rise  from  the  perusal  of  Mr.  Montgomery's  poems  without  feeling  the  elevating  power  of  his  chsusto 
and  beautiful  li-iies.  We  are  glad  to  see  such  a  favourite  poet  in  such  graceful  allire.  The  typo 
paper,  ami  entire  "getting  up"  of  this  xolume,  is  in  tasteful  accordance  with  the  precious  gems  it 
coBtains,  and  reflects  great  credit  or  'ha  publishers.— ^c'ctrrae-^ 


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